SAPPHO 


SAPPHO 

MEMOIR,  TEXT,  SELECTED 
RENDERINGS  AND  A  LITERAL 
TRANSLATION  BY  HENRY 
THORNTON  WHARTON 


NEW   YORK 

JOHN    LANE    COMPANY 

LONDON:  JOHN  LANE 

MCMVII. 


STACK 
ANNEX 


?A 


HOT- 


PREFACE  TO  THIRD  EDITION 

I  WOULD  fain  have  enriched  this  edition  of  my 
Sappho  with  some  new  words  of  the  poetess,  if 
only  even  to  the  slight  extent  which  I  reached  in 
1887  ;  but,  to  the  world's  sorrow,  that  pleasure 
has  been  denied  me.  Still,  we  need  not  yet  give 
up  all  hope,  after  the  unexpected  discovery  of 
the  unknown  Mimiambi  of  Herondas,  on  a 
papyrus-roll  used  to  stuff  an  Egyptian  mummy- 
case,  so  few  years  ago  (cf.  The  Academy ',  Oct.  1 1 , 
1890). 

Neverthless,  I  can  now  present  to  the  lovers 
of  Sappho  a  good  deal  more  than  was  heretofore 
in  my  power ;  in  a  new  form,  it  is  true,  but  with 
the  same  beautiful  Greek  type.  And  with  this 
third  edition  I  am  enabled  to  give  a  reproduc- 
tion, in  photogravure,  of  the  charming  picture 
of  Mitylene  by  the  late  Mr.  Clarkson  Stan- 
field,  R.A.,  for  which  I  am  primarily  indebted 
to  Dr.  R.  Garnett,  of  the  British  Museum. 

Since  it  was  my  privilege,  if  I  may  say  so 
without  arrogance,  to  introduce  Sappho  to 


VI      PREFACE    TO    THIRD    EDITION 

English  readers  in  the  year  1885,  in  a  form 
which  they  could  understand,  whether  they 
knew  any  Greek  or  none,  and  in  the  entirety 
of  every  known  word  of  hers,  there  has  arisen 
a  mass  of  literature  upon  the  subject  of  the 
greatest  lyrist  of  all  time.  To  enumerate  the 
pictures  that  have  been  painted,  the  articles 
and  books  and  plays  that  have  been  written, 
which  have  appealed  to  the  public  in  the  last 
ten  years,  would  be  an  almost  impossible  task. 
In  my  Bibliography  I  have  endeavoured  to 
give  a  reference  to  all  that  is  of  prominent  and 
permanent  interest,  ranging  from  '  the  postman 
poet,'  Mr.  Hosken,  to  the  felicitous  paraphrases 
— some  fractions  of  which  I  have  taken  the 
liberty  to  quote  in  the  text — of  '  Michael  Field ' 
in  her  Long  Ago. 

The  translation  of  the  Hymn  to  Aphrodite, 
which  was  made  for  me  by  the  late  J.  Addington 
Symonds,  now  appears  in  the  amended  form  in 
which  he  finally  printed  it.  Professor  Palgrave 
has  kindly  allowed  me  to  include  some  versions 
of  his,  made  many  years  ago.  The  late  Sir 
R.  F.  Burton  made  a  metrical  translation  of 
Catullus,  which  has  recently  been  published, 
and  I  am  grateful  to  Lady  Burton  for  allowing 
me  to  reprint  his  version  of  the  Roman  poet's 
Ode  to  Lesbia. 

The    only  critical    edition  of   the   text   of 


PREFACE    TO    THIRD    EDITION     vii 

Sappho  since  that  of  Bergk  —  the  text  which  I 
adopt  —  has  been  made  by  Mr.  G.  S.  Farnell, 
headmaster  of  the  Victoria  College,  Jersey  ; 
from  which  I  have  had  considerable  assistance. 
As  regards  erudite  scholarship,  the  investiga- 
tions of  Professor  Luniak,  of  the  Kazan  Uni- 
versity, deserve  more  attention  than  it  is  within 
the  scope  of  my  book  to  give  them.  I  reviewed 
his  essay  in  some  detail  in  The  Academy  for 
July  19,  1890,  p.  53.  The  criticisms  upon  it 
by  Professor  Naguiewski,  in  his  disputation 
for  the  doctorate  two  years  later,  go  far  to  prove 
that  my  appreciation  of  Sappho's  character 
cannot  be  easily  shaken.  That  rapturous  frag- 
ment of  Sophocles  — 

*fi  Geot,  rlq  5pa  Kuirpig,  H  TU; 
roG6e 


(O  gods,  what  love,  what  yearning,  contributed 
to  this  f)  still  remains  to  me  the  keynote  of 
what  Sappho  has  been  through  all  the  ages. 

HENRY  T.  WHARTON. 


'MADRESFIKLD,'  ACOL  ROAD, 

WEST  HAMPSTEAD,  LONDON,  N.W., 
April  1895. 


PREFACE  TO  SECOND  EDITION 

THE  cordial  reception  which  the  first  edition 
of  my  little  book  met  with  has  encouraged  me 
to  make  many  improvements  in  this  re-issue. 
Unforeseen  delays  in  its  production  have  also 
helped  me  to  advance  upon  my  first  essay. 
Among  other  changes,  I  have  been  able  to 
obtain  a  new  fount  of  Greek  type,  which  has 
to  me  a  peculiar  beauty.  Unfamiliar  though 
some  of  the  letters  may  appear  at  first  sight, 
they  reproduce  the  calligraphy  of  the  manu- 
scripts of  the  most  artistic  period  of  the 
Middle  Ages.  This  type  has  been  specially 
cast  in  Berlin,  by  favour  of  the  Imperial  Go- 
vernment. In  a  larger  size  it  is  not  unknown 
to  English  scholars,  but  such  as  I  am  now  en- 
abled to  present  has  never  been  used  before. 

Last    spring  a   telegram   from   the   Vienna 
correspondent   of  the   Times  announced  that 


yiii 


PREFACE    TO    SECOND    EDITION    IX 

some  new  verses  of  Sappho  had  been  found 
among  the  Fayum  papyri  in  the  possession  of 
the  Archduke  Rdnier.  When  the  paper  on 
his  Imperial  Highness'  papyri  was  read  before 
the  Imperial  Academy  of  Science  by  Dr. 
Wilhelm  Ritter  von  Hartel  on  the  loth  of 
March,  it  became  evident  that  the  remark  was 
made,  not  in  allusion  to  the  Archduke's  pos- 
sessions, but  to  that  portion  of  the  Fayum 
manuscripts  which  had  been  acquired  by  the 
Imperial  Museum  in  Berlin.  The  verses  re- 
ferred to  were  indeed  no  other  than  the  two 
fragments  which  had  been  deciphered  and 
criticised  by  the  celebrated  scholar,  Dr.  F. 
Blass,  of  Kiel,  in  the  Rheinisches  Museum  for 
1880 ;  and  further  edited  by  Bergk  in  the  post- 
humous edition  of  his  Poetae  Lyrici  Graeci.  I 
am  now  able,  not  only  to  print  the  text  of  these 
fragments  and  a  translation  of  them,  but  also, 
through  the  courtesy  of  the  Imperial  Govern- 
ment of  Germany,  to  give  an  exact  reproduc- 
tion of  photographs  of  the  actual  scraps  of 
parchment  on  which  they  were  written  a  thou- 
sand years  ago.  Dr.  Erman,  the  Director  of 
the  Imperial  Egyptian  Museum,  kindly  fur- 
nished me  with  the  photographs ;  and  the 
Autotype  Company  has  copied  them  with  its 
well-known  fidelity. 
Among  many  other  additions,  that  which  I 


X       PREFACE    TO    SECOND    EDITION 

have  been  able  to  make  to  fragment  100  is. 
particularly  interesting.  The  untimely  death 
of  the  young  French  scholar,  M.  Charles  Graux, 
who  found  the  quotation  among  the  dry  dust  of 
Choricius'  rhetorical  orations,  is  indeed  to  be 
deplored.  Had  he  lived  longer  he  might  have 
cleared  up  for  us  many  another  obscure  passage 
in  the  course  of  his  studies  of  manuscripts 
which  have  not  hitherto  found  an  editor. 

The  publication  of  the  memoir  on  Naukratis 
by  the  Committee  of  the  Egypt  Exploration 
Fund  last  autumn  is  an  event  worthy  of  notice, 
the  town  having  been  so  intimately  connected 
with  Sappho's  story.  On  one  of  the  pieces  of 
pottery  found  at  Naucratis  by  Mr.  Petrie  occur 
the  inscribed  letters  ZA4>  (pi.  xxxiv.,  fig.  532), 
which  some  at  first  thought  might  refer  to 
Sappho ;  but  the  more  probable  restoration  is 
eijq  'A9[po6iTHv,  '  to  Aphrodite.' 

Since  the  issue  of  my  first  edition,  M.  De 
Vries  has  published,  at  Leyden,  an  exhaustive 
dissertation  upon  Ovid's  Epistle,  Sappho  to 
Phaon,  which  has  caused  me  to  modify  some  of 
my  conclusions  regarding  it.  Although  Ovid's 
authorship  of  this  Epistle  seems  to  me  now  to 
be  sufficiently  vindicated,  I  still  remain  con- 
vinced that  we  are  not  justified  in  taking  the 
statements  in  it  as  historically  accurate. 

It  is  curious  also  that  a  candidate  for  the 


PREFACE    TO    SECOND    EDITION     XI 

degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Erlangen  offered,  as  his  inaugural  disser- 
tation, in  1885,  an  account  of  'Sappho  the 
Mitylenean.'  The  author,  Joacheim  I.  Pauli- 
dos,  is  a  native  of  Lesbos.  It  is  a  pamphlet  of 
sixty  pages,  written,  not  in  modern,  but  in 
classical  Greek.  His  opening  sentence,  Mia  nai 
WOVH  qivero  Zan<pu> — 'Sappho  stands  alone  and 
unique,'  comes  near  the  meaning,  but  misses 
the  polish  of  the  phrase — gives  his  dominant 
tone;  his  acceptance  of  her  character  greatly 
resembles  mine. 

Since  the  years  now  and  then  bring  to  light 
some  fresh  verses  of  Sappho's,  there  is  a  faint 
hope  that  more  may  still  be  found.  The  rich 
store  of  parchments  and  papyri  discovered  in 
the  Fayum  has  not  all  been  examined  yet. 
Indeed,  among  a  few  of  these  which  were  lost  in 
the  custom-house  at  Alexandria  in  1881-2,  M. 
Maspero,  the  renowned  Director  of  Explora- 
tions in  Egypt,  thought  he  had  detected  the 
perfume  of  Sappho's  art. 

It  is  pleasing  to  see  (cf.  fragment  95)  that 
our  own  Poet  Laureate  has  again  recurred,  in 
his  latest  volume  of  poems,  to  a  phrase  from 
Sappho  which  he  had  first  used  nearly  sixty 
years  ago ;  and  that  he  calls  her  '  the  poet,' 
implying  her  supremacy  by  the  absence  of 
any  added  epithet. 


XII    PREFACE    TO    SECOND    EDITION 

I  am  indebted  to  many  kind  friends  and  dis- 
tinguished scholars  for  much  assistance.  Among 
them  I  must  especially  thank  Professor  Blass,  of 
Kiel.  Notwithstanding  the  frequent  recurrence 
of  his  name  on  my  pages,  I  owe  more  to  his 
cordial  help  and  criticism  than  I  can  acknow- 
ledge here. 

Little  more  than  I  have  given  is  needed  to 
prove  how  transcendent  an  artist  Sappho  was ; 
but  I  cannot  forbear  concluding  with  an  ex- 
tract from  a  recent  essay  on  poetry  by  Mr. 
Theodore  Watts -Dunton  :— 

'  Never  before  these  songs  were  sung,  and 
never  since,  did  the  human  soul,  in  the  grip  of 
a  fiery  passion,  utter  a  cry  like  hers ;  and,  from 
the  executive  point  of  view,  in  directness,  in 
lucidity,  in  that  high  imperious  verbal  economy 
which  only  Nature  can  teach  the  artist,  she  has 
no  equal,  and  none  worthy  to  take  the  place  of 
second.' 

HENRY  T.  WHARTON. 


39  ST.  GEORGE'S  ROAD, 

KILBURN,  LONDON,  N.W., 

April  1887. 


PREFACE  TO  FIRST  EDITION 

SAPPHO,  the  Greek  poetess  whom  more  than 
eighty  generations  have  been  obliged  to  hold 
without  a  peer,  has  never,  in  the  entirety  of  her 
works,  been  brought  within  the  reach  of  Eng- 
lish readers.  The  key  to  her  wondrous  repu- 
tation— which  would,  perhaps,  be  still  greater 
if  it  had  ever  been  challenged — has  hitherto 
lain  hidden  in  other  languages  than  ours.  As 
a  name,  as  a  figure  pre-eminent  in  literary  his- 
tory, she  has  indeed  never  been  overlooked. 
But  the  English-reading  world  has  come  to 
think,  and  to  be  content  with  thinking,  that  no 
verse  of  hers  survives  save  those  two  hymns 
which  Addison,  in  the  Spectator,  has  made 
famous — by  his  panegyric,  not  by  Ambrose 
Philips'  translation. 

My  aim  in  the  present  work  is  to  familiarise 
English  readers,  whether  they  understand  Greek 
or  not,  with  every  word  of  Sappho,  by  translat- 
ing all  the  one  hundred  and  seventy  fragments 

xiii 


XIV      PREFACE    TO    FIRST    EDITION 

that  her  latest  German  editor  thinks  may  be 
ascribed  to  her : 

Love's  priestess,  mad  with  pain  and  joy  of  song, 
Song's  priestess,  mad  with  joy  and  pain  of  love. 

SWINBURNE. 

I  have  contented  myself  with  a  literal  English 
prose  translation,  for  Sappho  is,  perhaps  above 
all  other  poets,  untranslatable.  The  very  diffi- 
culties in  the  way  of  translating  her  may  be  the 
reason  why  no  Englishman  has  hitherto  under- 
taken the  task.  Many  of  the  fragments  have 
been  more  or  less  successfully  rendered  into 
English  verse,  and  such  versions  I  have  quoted 
whenever  they  rose  above  mediocrity,  so  far  as 
I  have  been  able  to  discover  them. 

After  an  account  of  Sappho's  life  as  complete 
as  my  materials  have  allowed,  I  have  taken  her 
fragments  in  order  as  they  stand  in  Bergk, 
whose  text  I  have  almost  invariably  followed. 
I  have  given  (i)  the  original  fragment  in  Greek, 
(2)  a  literal  version  in  English  prose,  distin- 
guished by  italic  type,  (3)  every  English  metri- 
cal translation  that  seems  worthy  of  such 
apposition,  and  (4)  a  note  of  the  writer  by 
whom,  and  the  circumstances  under  which, 
each  fragment  has  been  preserved.  Too  often 
a  fragment  is  only  a  single  word,  but  I  have 
omitted  nothing. 

It  is  curious  to  note  how  early  in  the  history 


PREFACE    TO    FIRST    EDITION      XV 

of  printing  the  literature  of  Sappho  began.  The 
British  Museum  contains  a  sort  of  commentary 
on  Sappho  which  is  dated  1475  m  t^e  Cata- 
logue ;  this  is  but  twenty  years  later  than  the 
famous  '  Mazarin '  Bible,  and  only  one  year 
after  the  first  book  was  printed  in  England.  It 
is  written  in  Latin  by  Georgius  Alexandrinus 
Merula,  and  is  of  much  interest,  apart  from  its 
strange  type  and  contractions  of  words. 

The  first  edition  of  any  part  of  Sappho  was 
that  of  the  Hymn  to  Aphrodite,  by  H.  Steph- 
anus,  in  his  edition  of  Anacreon,  8vo,  1554. 
Subsequent  editions  of  Anacreon  contained 
other  fragments  attributed  to  her,  including 
some  that  are  now  known  to  be  by  a  later 
hand.  Fulvius  Ursinus  wrote  some  comments 
on  those  then  known  in  the  Carmina  Novem 
lllustrium  Feminarum  published  at  Antwerp, 
8vo,  1568.  Is.  Vossius  gave  an  amended  text 
of  the  two  principal  odes  in  his  edition  of 
Catullus,  London,  4to,  1684. 

But  the  first  separate  edition  of  Sappho's 
works  was  that  of  Johann  Christian  Wolf, 
which  was  published  in  4to  at  Hamburg  in 
1733,  and  reprinted  under  an  altered  title  two 
years  later.  Wolfs  work  is  as  exhaustive  as  was 
possible  at  his  date.  He  gives  a  frontispiece 
figuring  all  the  then  known  coins  bearing  refer- 
ence to  the  poetess ;  a  life  of  her — written,  like 


XVI*       PREFACE    TO    FIRST    EDITION 

the  rest  of  the  treatise,  in  Latin — occupies  32 
pages ;  a  Latin  translation  of  all  the  quotations 
from  or  references  to  her  in  the  Greek  classics, 
and  all  the  Latin  accounts  of  her,  together  with 
the  annotations  of  most  previous  writers,  and 
copious  notes  by  himself,  in  253  pages ;  and 
the  work  is  completed  with  elaborate  indices. 

The  next  important  critical  edition  of  Sappho 
was  that  of  Heinrich  Friedrich  Magnus  Volger, 
pp.  Ixviii.,  195,  8vo,  Leipzig,  1810.  It  was 
written  on  the  old  lines,  and  did  not  do  much 
to  advance  the  knowledge  of  her  fragments. 
Volger  added  a  '  musical  scheme,'  which  seems 
more  curious  than  useful,  and  of  which  it  is 
hard  to  understand  either  the  origin  or  the 
intention. 

But  nothing  written  before  1816  really 
grasped  the  Sapphic  question.  In  that  year 
Welcker  published  his  celebrated  refutation  of 
the  long-current  calumnies  against  Sappho, 
Sappho  vindicated  from  a  prevailing  Prejudice. 
In  his  zeal  to  establish  her  character  he  may 
have  been  here  and  there  led  into  extravagance, 
but  it  is  certain  that  his  searching  criticism  first 
made  it  possible  to  appreciate  her  true  position. 
Nothing  that  has  been  written  since  has  suc- 
ceeded in  invalidating  his  main  conclusions, 
despite  all  the  onslaughts  of  Colonel  Mure  and 
those  few  who  sympathised  with  him. 


PREFACE    TO    FIRST    EDITION      xvil 

Consequently  the  next  self-standing  edition 
of  Sappho,  by  Christian  Friedrich  Neue,  pp. 
106,  4to,  Berlin,  1827,  embodying  the  results 
of  the  'new  departure,'  was  far  in  advance  of 
its  predecessors — not  in  cumbrous  elaboration, 
but  in  critical  excellence.  Neue's  life  of  the 
poetess  was  written  in  the  light  of  Welcker's 
researches ;  his  purification  of  the  text  was  due 
to  more  accurate  study  of  the  ancient  manu- 
scripts, assisted  by  the  textual  criticisms  pub- 
lished by  Bishop  Blomfield  the  previous  year 
in  the  Cambridge  Museum  Criticum. 

Since  Neue's  time  much  has  been  written 
about  Sappho,  for  the  most  part  in  Latin  or 
German.  The  final  revision  of  the  text,  and 
collection  of  all  that  can  now  be  possibly 
ascribed  to  her,  was  made  by  Theodor  Bergk, 
in  his  Poetae  Lyrici  Graeci,  pp.  82-140  of  the 
third  volume  of  the  fourth  edition,  8vo,  Leip- 
zig, 1882,  which  I  have  here,  with  rare  excep- 
tions, followed. 

There  is  a  noteworthy  dissertation  on  her  life 
by  Theodor  Kock,  Alkaos  und  Sappho,  8vo, 
Berlin,  1862,  in  which  the  arguments  and  con- 
clusions of  Welcker  are  mainly  endorsed,  and 
elaborated  with  much  mythological  detail. 

Perhaps  the  fullest  account  of  Sappho  which 
has  recently  appeared  is  that  by  A.  Fernandez 
Merino,  a  third  edition  of  which  was  published 


xviii   PREFACE    TO    FIRST    EDITION 

at  Madrid  early  last  year.  Written  in  Spanish, 
it  discusses  in  an  impartial  spirit  every  question 
concerning  Sappho,  and  is  especially  valuable 
for  its  copious  references. 

Professor  Domenico  Comparetti,  the  cele- 
brated Florentine  scholar,  to  whom  I  shall  have 
occasion  to  refer  hereafter,  has  recently  done 
much  to  familiarise  Italian  readers  with  the 
chief  points  of  Sapphic  criticism.  His  enthusi- 
asm for  her  character  and  genius  is  all  that  can 
be  desired,  but  his  acceptance  of  Welcker's 
arguments  is  not  so  complete  as  mine.  Where 
truth  must  lie  between  two  extremes,  and  evi- 
dence on  either  side  is  so  hard  to  collect  and 
estimate,  it  is  possible  for  differently  constituted 
minds  to  reach  very  different  conclusions.  The 
motto  at  the  back  of  my  title-page  is  the  guide 
I  am  most  willing  to  follow.  But,  after  all,  to 
use  the  words  of  a  friend  whom  I  consulted  on 
the  subject,  '  whether  the  pure  think  her  emo- 
tion pure  or  impure;  whether  the  impure 
appreciate  it  rightly,  or  misinterpret  it;  whether, 
finally,  it  was  platonic  or  not ;  seems  to  me  to 
matter  nothing.'  Sappho's  poetic  eminence  is 
independent  of  such  considerations.  To  her, 

All  thoughts,  all  passions,  all  delights, 
Whatever  stirs  this  mortal  frame, 

All  are  but  ministers  of  Love, 
A  nd  feed  his  sacred  flame. 


PREFACE    TO    FIRST    EDITION      Xix 

Those  who  wish  to  learn  more  about  Sappho 
than  is  here  recorded  will  find  a  guide  in  the 
Bibliography  which  I  have  added  at  the  end 
of  the  volume.  My  sole  desire  in  these  pages 
is  to  present  '  the  great  poetess '  to  English 
readers  in  a  form  from  which  they  can  judge 
of  her  excellence  for  themselves,  so  far  as  that 
is  possible  for  those  to  whom  Aeolic  Greek  is 
unfamiliar.  Her  more  important  fragments 
have  been  translated  into  German,  French, 
Italian,  and  Spanish,  as  well  as  English ;  but 
all  previous  complete  editions  of  her  works  have 
been  written  solely  by  scholars  for  scholars. 
Now  that,  through  the  appreciation  of  Sappho 
by  modern  poets  and  painters,  her  name  is 
becoming  day  by  day  more  familiar,  it  seems 
time  to  show  her  as  we  know  her  to  have  been, 
to  those  who  have  neither  leisure  nor  power  to 
read  her  in  the  tongue  in  which  she  wrote. 

I  have  not  concerned  myself  much  with  tex- 
tual criticism,  for  I  do  not  arrogate  any  power 
of  discernment  greater  than  that  possessed  by 
a  scholar  like  Bergk.  Only  those  who  realise 
what  he  has  done  to  determine  the  text  of 
Sappho  can  quite  appreciate  the  value  of  his 
work.  Where  he  is  satisfied,  I  am  content. 
He  wrote  for  the  learned  few,  and  I  only  strive 
to  popularise  the  result  of  such  researches  as 
his :  to  show,  indeed,  so  far  as  I  can,  that 


XX        PREFACE    TO    FIRST    EDITION 

which  centuries  of  scholarship  have  succeeded 
in  accomplishing. 

The  translations  by  Mr.  John  Addington 
Symonds,  dated  1883,  were  all  made  especially 
for  this  work  in  the  early  part  of  that  year,  and 
have  not  been  elsewhere  published.  My  thanks 
are  also  due  to  Mr.  Symonds  for  much  valuable 
criticism. 

The  medallion  which  forms  the  frontispiece 
has  been  engraved  by  my  friend  Mr.  John 
Cother  Webb,  after  the  head  of  Sappho  in  the 
picture  by  Mr.  L.  Alma  Tadema,  R.A.,  ex- 
hibited at  the  Royal  Academy  in  1881,  as 
'op.  ccxxiii.,'  and  now  in  America.  I  trust 
that  my  readers  will  sympathise  with  me  in 
cordial  gratitude  to  both  artist  and  engraver, 
to  the  one  for  his  permission,  to  the  other  for 
his  fidelity. 

HENRY  T.  WHARTON. 


39  ST.  GEORGE  S  ROAD, 

KILBURN,  LONDON,  N.W. 

May  1885, 


LIFE    OF    SAPPHO 

SAPPHO,  the  one  great  woman  poet  of  the  world, 
who  called  herself  Psappha  in  her  own  Aeolic 
dialect  (in  fragments  i  and  59),  is  said  to  have 
been  at  the  zenith  of  her  fame  about  the  year 
6 10  B.C. 

During  her  lifetime  Jeremiah  first  began  to 
prophesy  (628  B.C.),  Daniel  was  carried  away 
to  Babylon  (606  B.C.),  Nebuchadnezzar  besieged 
and  captured  Jerusalem  (587  B.C.),  Solon  was 
legislating  at  Athens,  and  Tarquinius  Priscus, 
the  fifth  king,  is  said  to  have  been  reigning 
over  Rome.  She  lived  before  the  birth  of 
Gautama,  the  founder  of  Buddhism,  the  religion 
now  professed  by  perhaps  almost  a  third  of  the 
whole  population  of  the  globe. 

Two  centuries  have  sufficed  to  obscure  most 
of  the  events  in  the  life  of  Shakspere;  it  can 
hardly  be  expected  that  the  lapse  of  twenty-five 
centuries  should  have  left  many  authentic 
records  of  the  history  of  Sappho.  Little  even 
of  that  internal  evidence,  upon  which  bio- 
graphy may  rely,  can  be  gathered  from  her 
A 


2  LIFE    OF    SAPPHO 

extant  poems,  in  such  fragmentary  form  have 
they  come  down  to  us.  Save  for  the  quota- 
tions of  grammarians  and  lexicographers,  no 
word  of  hers  would  have  survived.  Yet  her 
writings  seem  to  have  been  preserved  intact  till 
at  least  the  third  century  of  our  era,  for 
Athenaeus,  who  wrote  about  that  time,  applies 
to  himself  the  words  of  the  Athenian  comic 
poet  Epicrates  in  his  Anti-Lais  (about  360 
B.C.),  saying  that  he  too — 

Had  learned  by  heart  completely  all  the  songs, 
Breathing  of  love,  which  sweetest  Sappho  sang. 

Scaliger  says,  although  there  does  not  seem 
to  exist  any  confirmatory  evidence,  that  the 
works  of  Sappho  and  other  lyric  poets  were 
burnt  at  Constantinople  and  at  Rome  in  the 
year  1073,  in  the  popedom  of  Gregory  vn. 
Cardan  says  the  burning  took  place  under 
Gregory  Nazianzen,  about  380  A.D.  And 
Petrus  Alcyonius  relates  that  he  heard  when 
a  boy  that  very  many  of  the  works  of  the 
Greek  poets  were  burnt  by  order  of  the 
Byzantine  emperors,  and  the  poems  of 
Gregory  Nazianzen  circulated  in  their  stead. 
Bishop  Blomfield  (Mus.  Crit.  i.  p.  422)  thinks 
they  must  all  have  been  destroyed  at  an  early 
date,  because  neither  Alcaeus  nor  Sappho  was 
annotated  by  any  of  the  later  Grammarians. 


LIFE    OF    SAPPHO  3 

'Few  indeed,  but  those,  roses,'  as  the  poet 
Meleager  said,  are  the  precious  verses  the  zeal 
of  anti-paganism  has  spared  to  us. 

Of  Sappho's  parents  nothing  is  definitely 
known.  Herodotus  calls  her  father  Scaman- 
dronymus ;  and  as  he  wrote  within  one  hundred 
and  fifty  years  of  her  death  there  is  little 
reason  to  doubt  his  accuracy.  But  Suidas, 
who  compiled  a  Greek  lexicon  in  about  the 
eleventh  century  A.D.,  gives  us  the  choice  of 
seven  other  names.  Her  mother's  name  was 
Cleis.  The  celebrated  Epistle  known  as  that 
of  Sappho  to  Phaon,  of  which  I  subjoin  a 
translation  by  Pope  in  the  Appendix,  and 
which  is  commonly  ascribed  to  Ovid,1  says 

1  Prof.  Domenico  Comparetti  has  lately  (1876)  pub- 
lished an  essay  on  the  authenticity  of  this  Epistle  and  on 
its  value  in  elucidating  the  history  of  Sappho.  After 
minutely  examining  all  the  evidence  against  it,  he  con- 
cludes that  it  is  the  genuine  work  of  Ovid.  And  in 
1885  De  Vries  brought  out  an  elaborate  dissertation  on 
the  same  subject ;  he  proves,  almost  to  a  certainty,  that 
Ovid  wrote  the  Epistle  in  question.  But  the  fact 
remains  that  it  is  absent  from  all  the  oldest  and  best 
MSS.,  and  was  only  given  its  present  place  in  Ovid's 
Heroic  Epistles  by  Heinsius  in  1629.  Even  if  it  be 
genuine,  we  may  safely  aver  that  in  Ovid's  day  it  was 
far  more  difficult  to  estimate  Sappho's  character  rightly 
than  it  is  now.  The  Romans,  we  can  well  believe, 
were  likely  to  regard  her  in  no  other  light  than  that  in 
which  she  had  been  portrayed  by  the  facile  and  un- 
scrupulous comedians  of  Athens. 


4  LIFE    OF    SAPPHO 

Sappho  was  only  six  years  old  '  when  the 
bones  of  her  parent,  gathered  up  before  their 
time,  drank  in  her  tears ' ;  this  is  supposed  to 
refer  to  her  father,  because  in  fr.  90  she  speaks 
of  her  mother  as  still  alive. 

She  had  two  brothers,  Charaxus  and  Lari- 
chus;  Suidas  indeed  names  a  third,  Eurygius, 
but  nothing  is  known  of  him. 

Larichus  was  public  cup-bearer  at  Mitylene, 
an  office  only  held  by  youths  of  noble  birth 
(ct.  fr.  139),  whence  it  is  inferred  that  Sappho 
belonged  to  the  wealthy  aristocratic  class. 

Charaxus  was  occupied  in  carrying  the 
highly  prized  Lesbian  wine  to  Naucratis1  in 
Egypt,  where  he  fell  in  love  with  a  woman  of 

1  The  exact  site  of  Naucr&tis  was  unknown  until 
December  1884,  when  Mr.  W.  M.  Flinders  Petrie, 
acting  as  agent  for  the  Egypt  Exploration  Fund,  dis- 
covered it  at  Nebireh,  or  rather  close  to  El  Gaief,  a 
modem  Arab  village  on  the  Rosetta  mouth  of  the 
Nile,  about  forty  miles  from  the  present  sea-coast.  It 
is  near  the  edge  of  the  Delta,  some  six  miles  N.E.  of 
Tel-el-Barftd,  a  railway  station  nearly  midway  between 
Alexandria  and  Cairo.  Before  Mr.  Petrie's  explorations, 
Naucratis  had  been  sought  for  several  miles  nearer  the 
sea  than  it  actually  lay,  and  its  identification  had  been 
despaired  of.  For  centuries  it  was  the  only  city  in  Egypt 
in  which  the  Greeks  were  permitted  to  settle  and  carry  on 
commerce  unmolested.  lonians,  Dorians,  and  Aeolians 
there  united  in  a  sort  of  Hanseatic  league,  with  special  re- 
presentatives and  a  common  sanctuary,  the  Panhellenion- 


LIFE    OF    SAPPHO  $ 

great  beauty,  Doricha  or  Rhodopis,  and 
ransomed  her  from  slavery  for  a  great  sum 
of  money.  Herodotus  says  she  came  originally 
from  Thrace,  and  had  once  served  ladmon  of 
Samos,  having  been  fellow-slave  with  Aesop 
the  fabulist.  Suidas  says  Charaxus  married 
her,  and  had  children  by  her ;  but  Herodotus 
only  says  that  she  was  made  free  by  him,  and 
remained  in  Egypt,  and  'being  very  lovely, 
acquired  great  riches  for  a  person  of  her 
condition.'  Out  of  a  tenth  part  of  her  gains 
(cf.  fr.  138)  she  furnished  the  temple  of  Apollo 
at  Delphi  with  a  number  of  iron  spits  for 
roasting  oxen  on.  Athenaeus,  however,  blames 
Herodotus  for  having  confused  two  different 
persons,  saying  that  Charaxus  married  Doricha, 
while  it  was  Rhodopis  who  sent  the  spits  to 
Delphi.  Certainly  it  appears  clear  that  Sappho 
in  her  poem  called  her  Doricha,  but  Rhodopis, 
'Rosy-cheek,'  was  probably  the  name  by  which 
she  was  known  among  her  lovers,  on  account 
of  her  beauty. 

Another  confusion   respecting   Rhodopis   is 

which  served  as  a  tie  among  them.  This  rich  colony 
remained  in  faithful  connection  with  the  mother-country, 
contributed  to  public  works  in  Hellas,  received  poli- 
tical fugitives  from  that  home  as  guests,  and  made  life 
fair  for  them,  as  for  its  own  children,  after  the  Greek 
model.  The  women  and  the  flower-garlands  of  Naucratis 
were  unsurpassed  in  beauty. 


6  LIFE    OF    SAPPHO 

that  in  Greece  she  was  believed  to  have  built 
the  third  pyramid ;  and  Herodotus  takes  pains 
to  show  that  such  a  work  was  far  beyond  the 
reach  of  her  wealth,  and  was  really  due  to 
kings  of  a  much  earlier  date.  Still  the  tale 
remained  current,  false  as  it  undoubtedly  was, 
at  least  till  the  time  of  Pliny  (about  77  A.D.). 
It  has  been  shown  by  Bunsen  and  others  that 
it  is  probable  that 

The  Rhodope  that  built  the  pyramid 

was  Nitocris,  the  beautiful  Egyptian  queen 
who  was  the  heroine  of  so  many  legends; 
Mycerinus  begaft  the  third  pyramid,  and 
Nitocris  finished  it. 

Strabo  and  Aelian  relate  a  story  of  Rhodopis 
which  recalls  that  of  Cinderella.  One  day, 
they  say,  when  Rhodopis  was  bathing  at 
Naucratis,  an  eagle  snatched  up  one  of  her 
sandals  from  the  hands  of  her  female  attend- 
ants, and  carried  it  to  Memphis;  the  eagle, 
soaring  over  the  head  of  the  king  (whom 
Aelian  calls  Psammetichus 1),  who  was  adminis- 
tering justice  at  the  time,  let  the  sandal  fall 
into  his  lap.  The  king,  struck  with  the  beauty 

1  Psammetichus  flourished  about  588  B.C.  He  was 
the  Pharaoh -hophra  mentioned  by  the  prophet  Jeremiah 
(xliv.  30),  whose  house  in  Tahpanhes  has  been  recently 
discovered  by  Mr.  Petrie. 


LIFE    OF    SAPPHO  7 

of  the  sandal  and  the  singularity  of  the  in- 
cident, sent  over  all  Egypt  to  discover  the 
woman  to  whom  it  belonged.  The  owner  was 
found  in  the  city  of  Naucratis  and  brought  to 
the  king ;  he  made  her  his  queen,  and  at  her 
death  erected,  so  the  story  goes,  this  third 
pyramid  in  her  honour. 

Suidas  says  Sappho  'married  one  Cercolas, 
a  man  of  great  wealth,  who  sailed  from  Andros, 
and,'  he  adds,  'she  had  a  daughter  by  him, 
named  Cleis.'  In  fr.  85  (cf.  fr.  136)  Sappho 
mentions  this  daughter  Clais  by  name,  and 
Ovid,  in  the  Epistle  already  alluded  to,  also 
refers  to  her.  But  the  existence  of  such  a  hus- 
band has  been  warmly  disputed,  and  the  name 
(Penifer)  and  that  of  his  country  (  Virllid)  are 
conjectured  to  have  been  invented  in  ribaldry 
by  the  Comic  poets ;  certainly  it  was  against 
the  custom  of  the  Greeks  to  amass  wealth  in 
one  country  and  go  to  seek  a  wife  in  a  distant 
island.  Some  authorities  do  not  mention 
Andros,  one  of  the  islands  of  the  Cyclades, 
but  state  that  Sappho's  family  belonged  to  an 
Aeolian  colony  in  the  Troad. 

The  age  in  which  Sappho  flourished  is 
mainly  determined  by  concurrent  events. 
Athenaeus  makes  her  contemporary  with 
Alyattes  the  father  of  Croesus,  who  reigned 
over  Lydia  from  628  to  570  B.C.  Eusebius 


8  LIFE    OF    SAPPHO 

mentions  her  in  his  Chronicle  for  the  year  604 
B.C.  Suidas  says  she  lived  about  the  42nd 
Olympiad  (612-609  B.C.),  in  the  time  of  the 
poets  Alcaeus,  Stesichorus,  and  Pitt^cus.  Her 
own  verses  in  fr.  28  are  said  to  have  been 
written  in  answer  to  those  of  Alcaeus  address- 
ing her — 

'  lorrAoK  arva  fieAAixojueioe  Zancpoi, 
6eAa)  TI  FetTiHV,  aAAa  ne  KwXuei  cu&cor., 

'Violet-weaving,  pure,  soft-smiling  Sappho,  I 
want  to  say  something,  but  shame  deters  me ' 
(cf.  p.  24).  Athenaeus  says  that  HermesiSnax, 
in  an  elegy  (cf.  fr.  26),  spoke  of  Sappho  as 
beloved  by  Anacreon,  and  he  quotes  from  the 
third  book  of  some  elegiac  poetry  by  Herme- 
sianax,  'A  Catalogue  of  things  relating  to 
Love,'  these  lines  of  his : 

And  well  thou  knowest  how  famed  Alcaeus  smote 
Of  his  high  harp  the  love-enlivened  strings, 

And  raised  to  Sappho's  praise  the  enamoured  note, 
'Midst  noise  of  mirth  and  jocund  revellings : 

Aye,  he  did  love  that  nightingale  of  song 
With  all  a  lover's  fervour, — and,  as  he 

Deftly  attuned  the  lyre,  to  madness  stung 
The  Teian  bard  with  envious  jealousy. 

For  her  Anacreon,  charming  lyrist,  wooed, 
And  fain  would  win,  with  sweet  mellifluous  chime, 

Encircled  by  her  Lesbian  sisterhood  ; 

Would  often  Samos  leave,  and  many  a  time 


LIFE    OF    SAPPHO  9 

From  vanquished  Tecs'  viny  orchards  hie 
To  viny  Lesbos'  isle, — and  from  the  shore, 

O'er  the  blue  wave,  on  Lectum  cast  his  eye, 
And  think  on  bygone  days  and  times  no  more. 
(Translated by].  BAILEY.) 

Diphilus  too,  in  his  play  Sappho,  represented 
Archilochus  and  Hipponax  as  her  lovers — for 
a  joke,  as  Athenaeus  prudently  remarks. 
Neither  of  these,  however,  was  a  contemporary 
of  hers,  and  it  seems  quite  certain  that  Ana- 
creon,  who  flourished  fully  fifty  years  later, 
never  set  eyes  on  Sappho  (cf.  fr.  26). 

How  long  she  lived  we  cannot  tell.  The 
epithet  repairepa,  'somewhat  old,'  which  she 
applies  to  herself  in  fr.  75,  may  have  been 
merely  relative.  The  story  about  her  brother 
Charaxus  and  Rhodopis  would  show  she  lived 
at  least  until  572  B.C.,  the  year  of  the  accession 
of  Amasis,  king  of  Egypt,  under  whose  reign 
Herodotus  says  Rhodopis  flourished ;  but  one 
can  scarcely  draw  so  strict  an  inference.  If 
what  Herodotus  says  is  true,  Sappho  may  have 
reached  the  age  of  fifty  years.  At  any  rate, 
'the  father  of  history'  is  more  worthy  of 
credence  than  the  scandal-mongers.  An 
inscription  on  the  famous  Parian  marbles,  a 
system  of  chronology  compiled,  perhaps  by  a 
schoolmaster,  in  the  third  century  B.C.  (cf.  p. 
17),  says:  'When  Aristocles  reigned  over  the 


10  LIFE    OF    SAPPHO 

Athenians,  Sappho  fled  from  Mitylene  and 
sailed  to  Sicily ' ;  but  the  exact  date  is  illegible, 
though  it  may  be  placed  between  604  and  592 
B.C.  It  is  hardly  safe  to  refer  to  this  Ovid's  asser- 
tion that  she  went  to  Sicily  in  pursuit  of  Phaon. 

Balancing  all  the  evidence,  Fynes-Clinton, 
in  his  Fasti  Hellenici,  i.  p.  225,  takes  the  years 
611-592  B.C.  to  be  the  period  in  which  Sappho 
flourished. 

That  she  was  a  native  of  Lesbos,  an  island 
in  the  Aegean  sea,  is  universally  admitted ;  and 
all  but  those  writers  who  speak  of  a  second 
Sappho  say  she  lived  at  Mitylene,  the  chief 
city  of  the  island.  The  existence  of  a  Sappho 
who  was  a  courtesan  of  ErSsus,  a  smaller 
Lesbian  city,  besides  the  poetess  of  Mitylene, 
is  the  invention  of  comparatively  late  authors ; 
and  it  is  probably  due  to  their  desire  to  detach 
the  calumnies,  which  the  Comic  poets  so  long 
made  popular,  from  the  personality  of  the 
poetess  to  whose  good  name  her  own  con- 
temporaries bore  witness  (cf.  Alcaeus'  address 
to  her,  p.  8). 

Strabo,  in  his  Geography,  says  :  '  Mitylene 
[MiruAHVH  or  MUTIAHVH]  is  well  provided  with 
everything.  It  formerly  produced  celebrated 
men,  such  as  Pittacus,  one  of  the  Seven  Wise 
Men;  Alcaeus  the  poet,  and  others.  Con 
temporary  with  these  persons  flourished  Sappho, 


LIFE    OF    SAPPHO  II 

who  was  something  wonderful;  at  no  period 
within  memory  has  any  woman  been  known 
who  in  any,  even  the  least  degree,  could  be 
compared  to  her  for  poetry.'  Indeed,  the  glory 
of  Lesbos  was  that  Sappho  was  its  citizen,  and 
its  chief  fame  centres  in  the  fact  of  her 
celebrity.  By  its  modern  name  Mitilene, 
under  the  dominion  of  the  Turks,  the  island, 

Where  burning  Sappho  loved  and  sung, 

is  now  mainly  known  for  its  oil  and  wine  and 
its  salubrity.  In  ancient  times  its  wine  was 
the  most  celebrated  through  all  Greece;  and 
Vergil  refers  to  its  vines,  which  trailed  like  ivy 
on  the  ground,  while  many  authors  testify  to 
the  exceptional  wholesomeness  of  Lesbian  wine. 
But  the  clue  to  Sappho's  individuality  can  only 
be  found  in  the  knowledge  of  what,  in  her  age, 
Lesbos  and  the  Lesbians  were ;  around  her 
converges  all  we  know  of  the  Aeolian  race.  As 
Mr.  Swinburne  says — 

Had  Sappho's  self  not  left  her  word  thus  long 

For  token, 
The  sea  round  Lesbos  yet  in  waves  of  song 

Had  spoken. 

'For  a  certain  space  of  time,'  writes  Mr.  J. 
Addington  Symonds  in  his  Studies  of  Greek 
Poets,  first  series,  pp.  127  ff.,  'the  Aeolians 
occupied  the  very  foreground  of  Greek  litera- 


12  LIFE    OF    SAPPHO 

ture,  and  blazed  out  with  a  brilliance  of  lyrical 
splendour  that  has  never  been  surpassed. 
There  seems  to  have  been  something  passion- 
ate and  intense  in  their  temperament,  which 
made  the  emotions  of  the  Dorian  and  the 
Ionian  feeble  by  comparison.  Lesbos,  the 
centre  of  Aeolian  culture,  was  the  island  of 
overmastering  passions ;  the  personality  of  the 
Greek  race  burned  there  with  a  fierce  and 
steady  flame  of  concentrated  feeling.  The 
energies  which  the  lonians  divided  between 
pleasure,  politics,  trade,  legislation,  science, 
and  the  arts,  and  which  the  Dorians  turned  to 
war  and  statecraft  and  social  economy,  were 
restrained  by  the  Aeolians  within  the  sphere 
of  individual  emotions,  ready  to  burst  forth 
volcanically.  Nowhere  in  any  age  of  Greek 
history,  or  in  any  part  of  Hellas,  did  the  love 
of  physical  beauty,  the  sensibility  to  radiant 
scenes  of  nature,  the  consuming  fervour  of 
personal  feeling,  assume  such  grand  proportions 
and  receive  so  illustrious  an  expression  as  they 
did  in  Lesbos.  At  first  this  passion  blossomed 
into  the  most  exquisite  lyrical  poetry  that  the 
world  has  known :  this  was  the  flower-time  of 
the  Aeolians,  their  brief  and  brilliant  spring. 
But  the  fruit  it  bore  was  bitter  and  rotten. 
Lesbos  became  a  byword  for  corruption.  The 
passions  which  for  a  moment  had  flamed  into 


LIFE    OF    SAPPHO  13 

the  gorgeousness  of  Art,  burnt  their  envelope 
of  words  and  images,  remained  a  mere  furnace 
of  sensuality,  from  which  no  expression  of  the 
divine  in  human  life  could  be  expected.  In 
this  the  Lesbian  poets  were  not  unlike  the 
Provencal  troubadours,  who  made  a  literature 
of  Love ;  or  the  Venetian  painters,  who  based 
their  Art  upon  the  beauty  of  colour,  the 
voluptuous  charms  of  the  flesh.  In  each  case 
the  motive  of  enthusiastic  passion  sufficed  to 
produce  a  dazzling  result.  But  as  soon  as  its 
freshness  was  exhausted  there  was  nothing  left 
for  Art  to  live  on,  and  mere  decadence  to 
sensuality  ensued.  Several  circumstances  con- 
tributed to  aid  the  development  of  lyric  poetry 
in  Lesbos.  The  customs  of  the  Aeolians 
permitted  more  social  and  domestic  freedom 
than  was  common  in  Greece.  Aeolian  women 
were  not  confined  to  the  harem  like  lonians, 
or  subjected  to  the  rigorous  discipline  of  the 
Spartans.  While  mixing  freely  with  male 
society,  they  were  highly  educated,  and  accus- 
tomed to  express  their  sentiments  to  an  extent 
unknown  elsewhere  in  history — until,  indeed, 
the  present  time.  The  Lesbian  ladies  applied 
themselves  successfully  to  literature.  They 
formed  clubs  for  the  cultivation  of  poetry  and 
music.  They  studied  the  art  of  beauty,  and 
sought  to  refine  metrical  forms  and  diction. 


14  LIFEOFSAPPHO 

Nor  did  they  confine  themselves  to  the 
scientific  side  of  Art.  Unrestrained  by  public 
opinion,  and  passionate  for  the  beautiful,  the}' 
cultivated  their  senses  and  emotions,  and 
developed  their  wildest  passions.  All  the 
luxuries  and  elegances  of  life  which  that  climate 
and  the  rich  valleys  of  Lesbos  could  afford, 
were  at  their  disposal:  exquisite  gardens,  in 
which  the  rose  and  hyacinth  spread  perfume ; 
river-beds  ablaze  with  the  oleander  and  wild 
pomegranate ;  olive-groves  and  fountains,  where 
the  cyclamen  and  violet  flowered  with  feathery 
maidenhair ;  pine-shadowed  coves,  where  they 
might  bathe  in  the  calm  of  a  tideless  sea ;  fruits 
such  as  only  the  southern  sea  and  sea-wind  can 
mature ;  marble  cliffs,  starred  with  jonquil  and 
anemone  in  spring,  aromatic  with  myrtle  and 
lentisk  and  samphire  and  wild  rosemary  through 
all  the  months ;  nightingales  that  sang  in  May ; 
temples  dim  with  dusky  gold  and  bright  with 
ivory;  statues  and  frescoes  of  heroic  forms. 
In  such  scenes  as  these  the  Lesbian  poets  lived, 
and  thought  of  Love.  When  we  read  their 
poems,  we  seem  to  have  the  perfumes,  colours, 
sounds,  and  lights  of  that  luxurious  land  dis- 
tilled in  verse.  Nor  was  a  brief  but  biting 
winter  wanting  to  give  tone  to  their  nerves, 
and,  by  contrast  with  the  summer,  to  prevent 
the  palling  of  so  much  luxury  on  sated  senses. 


LIFE    OF    SAPPHO  1$ 

The  voluptuousness  of  Aeolian  poetry  is  not 
like  that  of  Persian  or  Arabian  art.  It  is  Greek 
in  its  self-restraint,  proportion,  tact.  We  find 
nothing  burdensome  in  its  sweetness.  All  is 
so  rhythmically  and  sublimely  ordered  in  the 
poems  of  Sappho  that  supreme  art  lends 
solemnity  and  grandeur  to  the  expression  of 
unmitigated  passion.' 

The  story  of  Sappho's  love  for  Phaon,  and 
her  leap  from  the  Leucadian  rock  in  con- 
sequence of  his  disdaining  her,  though  it  has 
been  so  long  implicitly  believed,  does  not  seem 
to  rest  on  any  firm  historical  basis.  Indeed, 
more  than  one  epigrammatist  in  the  Greek 
Anthology  expressly  states  that  she  was  buried 
in  an  Aeolic  grave.1 

Still  Phaon,  for  all  the  myths  that  cluster 
round  his  name,  for  his  miraculous  loveliness 
and  his  insensibility  to  love,  may  yet  have  been 
a  real  personage.  Like  other  heroes,  he  may 
possibly  have  lived  at  a  period  long  anterior  to 

1  Such  light  as  can  be  thrown  upon  the  legend  from 
Comparative  Mythology,  and  from  the  possible  etymo- 
logies of  the  names  of  Sappho  and  Phaon,  has  been,  I 
fear  rather  inconclusively,  gathered  by  Leonello  Modona 
in  his  La  Saffo  storica  (Florence,  1878).  Human  nature, 
however,  varies  so  little  from  age  to  age,  that  I  think  it 
better  to  judge  the  story  as  it  has  come  down  to  us,  than 
to  resort  to  the  most  erudite  guessing. 


16  LIFE    OF    SAPPHO 

that  of  the  traditions  about  him  which  have 
been  handed  down  to  us.  He  is  said  to  have 
been  a  boatman  of  Mitylene  (cf.  fr.  140),  who 
was  endowed  by  Aphrodite  with  youth  and 
extraordinary  beauty  as  a  reward  for  his  having 
ferried  her  for  nothing.  Servius,  who  wrote 
about  400  A.D.  (cf.  p.  39),  says  she  gave  him  an 
alabaster  box  of  ointment,  the  effect  of  which 
was  to  make  all  women  fall  in  love  with  him  j 
and  that  one  of  these — he  does  not  mention 
her  name — threw  herself  in  despair  from  the 
cliff  of  Leucas.  Servius  further  states,  on  the 
authority  of  Menander,  that  the  temple  was 
founded  by  Phaon  of  Lesbos.  Phaon's  beauty 
and  power  of  fascination  passed  into  a  proverb. 
Pliny,  however,  says  he  became  the  object  of 
Sappho's  love  because  he  had  found  the  male 
root  of  the  plant  called  eryngo,  probably  our 
sea-holly,  and  that  it  acted  like  a  love-charm. 
And  when  Athenaeus  is  talking  about  lettuces, 
as  to  their  use  as  food  and  their  anti-aphrodisiac 
properties,  he  says  Callimachus'  story  of  Aphro- 
dite hiding  Adonis  under  a  lettuce  is  'an 
allegorical  statement  of  the  poet's,  intended 
to  show  that  those  who  are  much  addicted  to 
the  use  of  lettuces  are  very  little  adapted  for 
pleasures  of  love.  Cratinus,'  he  goes  on,  '  says 
that  Aphrodite  when  in  love  with  Phaon  hid 
him  in  the  leaves  of  lettuces ;  but  the  younger 


LIFE    OF    SAPPHO  I/ 

Marsyas  says  that  she  hid  him  amid  the  grass 
of  barley.' 

Those  fanciful  writers  who  assert  the  exist- 
ence of  a  second  Sappho  say  that  it  was  not 
the  poetess  who  fell  in  love  with  Phaon,  but 
that  other  Sappho  on  whom  they  fasten  all  the 
absurd  stories  circulated  by  the  Comic  writers. 
The  tale  runs  that  the  importunate  love  of 
Sappho  caused  Phaon  to  flee  to  Sicily,  whither 
she  followed  him.  Ovid's  Epistle,  before  men- 
tioned (p.  3),  is  the  foundation  for  the  greater 
part  of  the  legend.  The  inscription  on  the 
Parian  marbles  (cf.  p.  9)  also  mentions  a 
certain  year  in  which  'Sappho  sailed  from 
Mitylene  and  fled  to  Sicily.'  The  chronicle, 
however,  says  nothing  about  Phaon,  nor  is  any 
reason  given  for  her  exile ;  some  have  imagined 
that  she  was  obliged  to  leave  her  country  on 
political  grounds,  but  there  is  no  trace  in  her 
writings,  nor  does  any  report  indicate,  that  she 
ever  interested  herself  in  politics. 

Strabo,  in  his  Geography  already  quoted 
(p.  10),  says:  'There  is  a  white  rock  which 
stretches  out  from  Leucas  to  the  sea  and  to- 
wards Cephallenia,  that  takes  its  name  from  its 
whiteness.  The  rock  of  Leucas  has  upon  it 
a  temple  of  Apollo,  and  the  leap  from  it  was 
believed  to  stop  love.  From  this  it  is  said  that 
Sappho  first,  as  Menander  says  somewhere,  "in 
B 


18  LIFE    OF    SAPPHO 

pursuit  of  the  haughty  Phaon,  urged  on  by 
maddening  desire,  threw  herself  from  its  far- 
seen  rocks,  imploring  thee  [Apollo],  lord  and 
king."'  The  former  promontory  of  Leucas  is 
now  separated  from  the  mainland  and  forms 
one  of  the  Ionian  islands,  known  as  Santa 
Maura,  off  the  wild  and  rugged  coast  of  Acar- 
nania.  The  story  of  Sappho's  having  ventured 
the  Leucadian  leap  is  repeated  by  Ovid,  and 
was  never  much  doubted,  except  by  those  who 
believed  in  a  second  Sappho,  till  modern  times. 
Still,  it  is  strange  that  none  of  the  many  authors 
who  relate  the  legend  say  what  was  the  result 
of  the  leap — whether  it  was  fatal  to  her  life  or 
to  her  love.  Moreover,  Ptolemy  Hephaestion 
(about  100  A.D.),  who,  in  the  extant  summary 
of  his  works  published  in  the  Myriobiblion  of 
Photius,  gives  a  list  of  many  men  and  women 
who  by  the  Leucadian  leap  were  cured  of  the 
madness  of  love  or  perished,  does  not  so  much 
as  mention  the  name  of  Sappho.  A  circum- 
stantial account  of  Sappho's  leap,  on  which 
the  popular  modern  idea  is  chiefly  founded, 
was  given  by  Addison,  relying  to  no  small 
extent  upon  his  imagination  for  his  facts,  '  with 
his  usual  exquisite  humour,  as  Warton  remarks, 
in  the  2 33rd  Spectator,  Nov.  27,1711.  '  Sappho 
the  Lesbian,'  says  Addison,  'in  love  with  Phaon, 
arrived  at  the  temple  of  Apollo  habited  like  a 


LIFE    OF    SAPPHO  1 9 

bride,  in  garments  as  white  as  snow.  She 
wore  a  garland  of  myrtle  on  her  head,  and 
carried  in  her  hand  the  little  musical  instru- 
ment of  her  own  invention.  After  having  sung 
a  hymn  to  Apollo,  she  hung  up  her  garland  on 
one  side  of  his  altar,  and  her  harp  on  the  other. 
She  then  tucked  up  her  vestments  like  a  Spar- 
tan virgin,  and  amidst  thousands  of  spectators, 
who  were  anxious  for  her  safety  and  offered  up 
vows  for  her  deliverance,  marched  directly  for- 
wards to  the  utmost  summit  of  the  promontory, 
where,  after  having  repeated  a  stanza  of  her 
own  verses,  which  we  could  not  hear,  she 
threw  herself  off  the  rock  with  such  an  intre- 
pidity as  was  never  before  observed  in  any  who 
had  attempted  that  dangerous  leap.  Many  who 
were  present  related  that  they  saw  her  fall  into 
the  sea,  from  whence  she  never  rose  again : 
though  there  were  others  who  affirmed  that  she 
never  came  to  the  bottom  of  her  leap,  but  that 
she  was  changed  into  a  swan  as  she  fell,  and 
that  they  saw  her  hovering  in  the  air  under 
that  shape.  But  whether  or  no  the  whiteness 
and  fluttering  of  her  garments  might  not  de- 
ceive those  who  looked  upon  her,  or  whether 
she  might  not  really  be  metamorphosed  into 
that  musical  and  melancholy  bird,  is  still 
a  doubt  among  the  Lesbians.  Alcaeus,  the 
famous  lyric  poet,  who  had  for  some  time  been 


20  LIFE    OF    SAPPHO 

passionately  in  love  with  Sappho,  arrived  at  the 
promontory  of  Leucate  that  very  evening  in 
order  to  take  the  leap  upon  her  account ;  but 
hearing  that  Sappho  had  been  there  before 
him,  and  that  her  body  could  be  nowhere 
found,  he  very  generously  lamented  her  fall, 
and  is  said  to  have  written  his  hundred  and 
twenty-fifth  ode  upon  that  occasion.' 

It  is  to  be  noted  in  this  connection  that  the 
part  of  the  cliff  of  Santa  Maura  or  Leukadi, 
known  to  this  day  as  '  Sappho's  Leap,'  was  used, 
even  in  historical  times,  as  a  place  whence  cri- 
minals condemned  to  death  were  thrown  into 
the  sea.  The  people  used,  it  is  said,  to  tie  num- 
bers of  birds  to  the  limbs  of  the  condemned 
and  cover  them  with  feathers  to  break  the  force 
of  their  fall,  and  then  send  boats  to  pick  them 
up.  If  they  survived,  they  were  pardoned. 

Those  modern  critics  who  reject  the  whole 
story  as  fabulous  derive  it  from  the  myth  of  the 
love  of  Aphrodite  and  Adonis,  who  in  the  Greek 
version  was  called  Phaethon  or  Phaon.  Theo- 
dor  Kock  (cf.  Preface,  p.  xvii)  is  the  latest 
exponent  of  these  views,  and  he  pushes  them 
to  a  very  fanciful  extent,  even  adducing  Minos 
as  the  sun  and  Britomartis  as  the  moon  to  ex- 
plain the  Leucadian  leap.  Certainly  the  legend 
does  not  appear  before  the  Attic  Comedy, 
about  395  B.C.,  more  than  two  centuries  after 


LIFE    OF    SAPPHO  21 

Sappho's  death.  And  the  Leucadian  leap 
may  have  been  ascribed  to  her  from  its  having 
been  often  mentioned  as  a  mere  poetical  meta- 
phor taken  from  an  expiatory  rite  connected 
with  the  worship  of  Apollo ;  the  image  occurs 
in  Stesichorus  and  Anacreon,  and  may  possibly 
have  been  used  by  Sappho.  For  instance, 
Athenaeus  cites  a  poem  by  Stesichorus  about 
a  maiden  named  Calyca  who  was  in  love  with 
a  youth  named  Euathlus,  and  prayed  in  a 
modest  manner  to  Aphrodite  to  aid  her  in 
becoming  his  wife ;  but  when  the  young  man 
scorned  her,  she  threw  herself  from  a  precipice : 
and  this  he  says  happened  near  Leucas.  Athen- 
aeus says  the  poet  represented  the  maiden  as 
particularly  modest,  so  that  she  was  not  willing 
to  live  with  the  youth  on  his  own  terms,  but 
prayed  that  if  possible  she  might  become  the 
wedded  wife  of  Euathlus ;  and  if  that  were  not 
possible,  that  she  might  be  released  from  life. 
And  Anacreon,  in  a  fragment  preserved  by 
Hephaestion,  says,  as  if  proverbially,  'Now 
again  rising  I,  drunk  with  love,  dive  from  the 
Leucadian  rock  into  the  hoary  wave.' 
And  Sappho  with  that  gloriole 

Of  ebon  hair  on  calmed  brows — 
O  poet- woman,  none  forgoes 
The  leap,  attaining  the  repose  ! 

(MRS.  E.  B.  BROWNING.) 


22  LIFE    OF    SAPPHO 

Sappho  'loved,  and  loved  more  than  once, 
and  loved  to  the  point  of  desperate  sorrow; 
though  it  did  not  come  to  the  mad  and  fatal 
leap  from  Leucate,  as  the  unnecessary  legend 
pretends.  There  are,  nevertheless,'  continues 
Mr.  Edwin  Arnold,  'worse  steeps  than  Leu- 
cate down  which  the  heart  may  fall;  and 
colder  seas  of  despair  than  the  Adriatic  in 
which  to  engulf  it' 

Seeing  that  six  comedies  are  known  to  have 
been  written  under  the  title  of  Sappho  (cf.  p.  37), 
and  that  her  history  furnished  material  for  at 
least  four  more,  it  is  not  strange  that  much  of 
their  substance  should  in  succeeding  centuries 
have  been  regarded  as  genuine.  In  a  later  and 
debased  age  she  became  a  sort  of  stock  char- 
acter of  the  licentious  drama.  The  fervour  of 
her  love  and  the  purity  of  her  life,  and  the 
very  fact  of  a  woman  having  been  the  leader 
of  a  school  of  poetry  and  music,  could  not 
have  failed  to  have  been  misunderstood  by 
the  Greek  comedians  at  the  close  of  the  fifth 
century  B.C.  The  society  and  habits  of  the 
Aeolians  at  Lesbos  in  Sappho's  time  were,  as 
M.  Bournouf  (Lit.  Grecq.  i.  p.  194)  has  shown, 
in  complete  contrast  to  those  of  the  Athenians 
in  the  period  of  their  corruption ;  just  as  the 
unenviable  reputation  of  the  Lesbians  was 
earned  long  after  the  date  of  Sappho.  '  It  is 


LIFE    OF    SAPPHO  23 

not  surprising,'  writes  Mr.  Philip  Smith,  in  his 
article  SAPPHO  in  Smith's  Dictionary  of  Greek 
and  Roman  Biography, '  that  the  early  Christian 
writers  against  heathenism  should  have  accepted 
a  misrepresentation  which  the  Greeks  them- 
selves had  invented.'  The  licence  of  the  Attic 
comedians  is  testified  by  Athenaeus'  mention 
that  Antiochus  of  Alexandria,  a  writer  other- 
wise unknown,  whose  date  is  quite  uncertain, 
wrote  a  '  Treatise  on  the  Poets  who  were  ridi- 
culed by  the  Comic  writers  of  the  Middle 
Comedy ' ;  and  by  the  fact  that  a  little  before 
403  B.C.  a  law  was  passed  which  enacted  that 
no  one  was  to  be  represented  on  the  stage  by 
name,  MH  6eiv  ovojuaori  K0)jucp6eiv  (cf.  p.  38). 

It  was  not  till  early  in  the  present  century 
that  the  current  calumnies  against  Sappho  were 
seriously  inquired  into  by  the  celebrated  scholar 
of  Gottingen,  Friedrich  Gottlieb  Welcker,  and 
found  to  be  based  on  quite  insufficient  evidence. 
Colonel  Mure  endeavoured  at  great  length,  both 
here  and  in  Germany,  to  expose  fallacies  in 
Welcker's  arguments ;  but  the  bitterness  of  his 
attack,  and  the  unfairness  of  much  of  his  reason- 
ing, go  far  to  weaken  his  otherwise  acknow- 
ledged authority.  Professor  Comparetti  has 
recently  examined  the  question  with  much 
fairness  and  erudition,  and,  with  the  possible 
exception  referred  to  above  (p.  3,  note),  has 


24  LIFE    OF    SAPPHO 

done  much  to  separate  fiction  from  fact ;  but  he 
does  not  endorse  all  Welcker's  conclusions. 

Sappho  seems  to  have  been  the  centre  of  a 
society  in  Mitylene,  a  kind  of  aesthetic  club, 
devoted  to  the  service  of  the  Muses.  Around 
her  gathered  maidens  from  even  comparatively 
distant  places,  attracted  by  her  fame,  to  study 
under  her  guidance  all  that  related  to  poetry 
and  music;  much  as  at  a  later  age  students 
resorted  to  the  philosophers  of  Athens. 

The  names  of  fourteen  of  her  girl-friends 
(rratpcu)  and  pupils  (na8HTpim)  are  preserved. 
The  most  celebrated  was  Erinna  of  Telos,  a 
poetess  of  whose  genius  too  few  lines  are  left 
for  us  to  judge ;  but  we  know  what  the  ancients 
thought  of  her  from  this  Epigram  in  the  Greek 
Anthology  : 

These  are  Erinna's  songs :  how  sweet,  though  slight ! — 
For  she  was  but  a  girl  of  nineteen  years  : — 

Yet  stronger  far  than  what  most  men  can  write  : 

Had  Death  delayed,  whose  fame  had  equalled  hers? 

(J.  A.  SYMONDS.) 

Probably  fr.  77  refers  to  her.  Of  the  other 
poetess,  Damophyla  of  Pamphylia,  not  a  word 
survives;  but  Apollonius  of  Tyana  says  she 
lived  in  close  friendship  with  Sappho,  and  made 
poems  after  her  model.  Suidas  says  Sappho's 
'companions  and  friends  were  three,  viz.,  Atthis, 
Telesippa,  and  Megara ;  and  her  pupils  were 


LIFE    OF    SAPPHO  2$ 

Anagora  of  the  territory  of  Miletus,  Gongyla  of 
Colophon,  and  Euneica  of  Salamis.'  She  her- 
self praises  Mnasidica  along  with  Gyrinna  (as 
Maximus  Tyrius  spells  the  name)  in  fr.  76 ;  she 
complains  of  Atthis  preferring  Andromeda  to 
her  in  fr.  41 ;  she  gibes  at  Andromeda  in  fr.  70, 
and  again  refers  to  her  in  fr.  58,  apparently  re- 
joicing over  her  discomfiture.  Of  Gorgo,  in  fr.  48, 
she  seems  to  say,  in  Swinburne's  paraphrase, 

I  am  weary  of  all  thy  words  and  soft  strange  ways. 

Anactoria's  name  is  not  mentioned  in  any 
fragment  we  have,  although  tradition  says  that 
fr.  2  was  addressed  to  her;  but  Maximus 
Tyrius  and  others  place  her  in  the  front  rank 
of  Sappho's  intimates :  '  What  Alcibiades,'  he 
says,  'and  Charmides  and  Phaedrus  were  to 
Socrates,  Gyrinna  and  Atthis  and  Anactoria 
were  to  the  Lesbian.'  Another,  Dica,  we  find 
her  (in  fr.  78)  praising  for  her  skill  in  weaving 
coronals.  And  in  ft.  86  a  daughter  of  Polyanax 
is  addressed  as  one  of  her  maidens.  The  name 
is  not  preserved  of  her  whom  (in  fr.  68)  she 
reproaches  as  disloyal  to  the  service  of  the 
Muses.  The  text  of  Ovid's  Sappho  to  Phaon 
is  so  corrupt  that  we  know  not  whom  she  is 
enumerating  there  of  those  she  loved ;  even  the 
name  of  her  '  fair  Cydno '  varies  in  the  MSS.  Nor 
can  we  tell  who  '  those  other  hundred  maidens ' 


26  LIFE    OF    SAPPHO 

were  whom  Ovid  (cf.  p.  188)  makes  her  say  she 
'  blamelessly  loved '  before  Phaon  satisfied  her 
heart.  But  the  preservation  of  the  names  of 
so  many  of  her  associates  is  enough  to  prove 
the  celebrity  of  her  teaching. 

Little  more  can  be  learnt  about  Sappho's 
actual  life.  In  fr.  72  she  says  of  herself,  '  I  am 
not  one  of  a  malignant  nature,  but  have  a  quiet 
temper.'  Antiphanes,  in  his  play  Sappho,  is 
said  by  Athenaeus  to  have  represented  her 
proposing  absurd  riddles,1  so  little  did  the 
Comic  writers  understand  her  genius.  Fr.  79 
is  quoted  by  Athenaeus  to  show  her  love  for 
beauty  and  honour.  Compare  also  fr.  1 1  and 
31  for  his  testimony  to  the  purity  of  her 
love  for  her  girl-friends :  ndvra  KaOapa  TOIQ 
Kaeapolc,  '  unto  the  pure  all  things  are  pure.' 

Plato,  in  his  Phaedrus,  calls  Sappho  '  beauti- 
ful,' for  the  sweetness  of  her  songs ;  '  and  yet,' 
says  Maximus  Tyrius,  '  she  was  small  and  dark,' 
une  petite  brunette, — '  est  etiomfusco  grata  colore 
venus '  .• 

The  small  dark  body's  Lesbian  loveliness 
That  held  the  fire  eternal. 

(SWINBURNE.) 

The  epithet  '  beautiful '  is  repeated  by  so  many 

1  Sappho's  riddle  is  translated  in  full  by  Colonel 
Higginson  in  his  Atlatitic  Essays,  p.  321. 


LIFE    OF    SAPPHO  2/ 

writers  that  it  may  everywhere  refer  only  to  the 
beauty  of  her  writings.  Even  Ovid  seems  to 
think  that  her  genius  threw  any  lack  of  comeli- 
ness into  the  shade — a  lack,  however,  which,  if 
it  had  existed,  could  not  have  escaped  the 
derision  of  the  Comic  writers,  especially  since 
Homer  (Iliad,  ix.  129,  271)  had  celebrated  the 
characteristic  beauty  of  the  women  of  Lesbos. 
The  address  of  Alcaeus  to  Sappho,  quoted  on 
p.  8,  shows  the  sweetness  of  her  expression, 
even  if  the  epithet  ionAoKoc  (violet-weaving) 
cannot  be  replaced  by  ionAoKajucx;  (with  violet 
locks),  as  some  MSS.  read.  And  Damocharis, 
in  the  Greek  Anthology,  in  an  Epigram  on  a 
statue  of  Sappho,  speaks  of  her  bright  eyes 
showing  her  wisdom,  and  compares  the  beauty 
of  her  face  to  that  of  Aphrodite.  To  another 
writer  in  the  Greek  Anthology  she  is  '  the  pride  of 
the  lovely-haired  Lesbians.'  Anacreon,  as  well  as 
Philoxenus,  calls  her  'sweet-voiced'  (cf.  fr.  i). 

But  thou6h  we  know  so  little  of  Sappho's 
personal  appearance,  the  whole  testimony  of 
the  ancient  writers  describes  the  charm  of  her 
poetry  with  unbounded  praise. 

Strabo,  in  his  Geography,  calls  her  'something 
wonderful'  (eaujuaorov  TI  XP""101)'  an<^  Sa7s  ne 
knew  '  no  woman  who  in  any,  even  the  least 
degree,  could  be  compared  to  her  for  poetry ' 
(cf.  p.  10). 


28  LIFE    OF    SAPPHO 

Such  was  her  unique  renown  that  she  was 
called  '  The  Poetess,5  just  as  Homer  was  '  The 
Poet.'  Plato  numbers  her  among  the  Wise. 
Plutarch  speaks  of  the  grace  of  her  poems  acting 
on  her  listeners  like  an  enchantment,  and  says 
that  when  he  read  them  he  set  aside  the 
drinking-cup  in  very  shame.  So  much  was  a 
knowledge  of  her  writings  held  to  be  an  essential 
of  culture  among  the  Greeks,  that  Philodemus, 
a  contemporary  of  Cicero,  in  an  Epigram  in  the 
Greek  Anthology^  notes  as  the  mark  of  an  ill- 
informed  woman  that  she  could  not  even  sing 
Sappho's  songs. 

Writers  in  the  Greek  Anthology  call  her  the 
Tenth  Muse,  child  of  Aphrodite  and  Eros, 
nursling  of  the  Graces  and  Persuasion,  pride  of 
Hellas,  companion  of  Apollo,  and  prophesy  her 
immortality.  For  instance,  Antipater  of  Sidon 
says: 

Does  Sappho  then  beneath  thy  bosom  rest, 
Aeolian  earth?    That  mortal  Muse,  confessed 
Inferior  only  to  the  choir  above, 
That  foster-child  of  Venus  and  of  Love  ; 
Warm  from  whose  lips  divine  Persuasion  came, 
Greece  to  delight,  and  raise  the  Lesbian  name. 

O  ye  who  ever  twine  the  three-fold  thread, 
Ye  Fates,  why  number  with  the  silent  dead 
That  mighty  songstress  whose  unrivalled  powers 
Weave  for  the  Muse  a  crown  of  deathless  flowers  ? 
(FRANCIS  HODGSON.) 


LIFE    OF    SAPPHO  29 

And  Tullius  Laurea : 

Stranger,  who  passest  my  Aeolian  tomb, 

Say  not  '  The  Lesbian  poetess  is  dead ' ; 

Men's  hands  this  mound  did  raise,  and  mortal's  work 

Is  swiftly  buried  in  forgetfulness. 

But  if  thou  lookest,  for  the  Muses'  sake, 

On  me  whom  all  the  Nine  have  garlanded, 

Know  thou  that  I  have  Hades'  gloom  escaped : 

No  dawn  shall  lack  the  lyrist  Sappho's  name. 

And  Piny"tus : 

This  tomb  reveals  where  Sappho's  ashes  lie, 
But  her  sweet  words  of  wisdom  ne'er  will  die. 

(LORD  N EAVES.) 

And  Plato : 

Some  thoughtlessly  proclaim  the  Muses  nine ; 
A  tenth  is  Lesbian  Sappho,  maid  divine. 

(LORD  NEAVBS.) 

Indeed,  all  the  praises  of  the  Epigrammatists 
are  in  the  same  strain;  none  but  held  her, 
with  the  poetess  Nossis,  'the  flower  of  the 
Graces.' 

Many  authors  relate  how  the  Lesbians 
gloried  in  Sappho's  having  been  their  citizen, 
and  say  that  her  image  was  engraved  on  the 
coins  of  Mitylene — '  though  she  was  a  woman/ 
as  Aristotle  remarks.  J.  C.  Wolf  describes  six 
extant  coins  which  may  presumably  have  been 
struck  at  different  times  in  honour  of  her ;  he 


30  LIFE    OF    SAPPHO 

gives  a  figure  of  each  on  his  frontispiece,  but 
they  have  little  artistic  merit. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  no  coins  bearing 
the  name  or  effigy  of  Sappho  have  hitherto 
been  discovered  which  were  current  before  the 
Christian  era,  so  that  no  conclusion  drawn  from 
inscriptions  on  them  is  of  any  historical  import- 
ance. In  the  time  of  the  Antonines,  from  which 
most  of  these  coins  seem  to  date,  her  name 
was  as  much  sullied  by  traditions  as  it  has  been 
to  the  present  day. 

Some  busts  there  are  of  her,  but  none  seem 
genuine.  Perhaps  the  best  representation  of 
what  she  and  her  surroundings  might  have 
been  is  given  by  Mr.  Alma  Tadema  in  his 
'  Sappho,'  exhibited  at  the  Royal  Academy  in 
1 88 1,  which  has  been  etched  by  Mr.  C.  O. 
Murray,  and  admirably  photographed  in  various 
sizes  by  the  Berlin  Photographic  Company ; 
from  the  head  of  Sappho  in  this  picture  Mr. 
J.  C.  Webb  has  engraved  the  medallion  which 
forms  the  frontispiece  of  this  work. 

A  bronze  statue  of  Sappho  was  splendidly 
made  by  Silanion,  and  stolen  by  Verres,  accord- 
ing to  Cicero,  from  the  prytaneum  at  Syracuse. 
And  Christodorus,  in  the  Greek  Anthology, 
describes  a  statue  of  her  as  adorning  the  gym- 
nasium of  Zeuxippus  at  Byzantium  in  the  fifth 
century  A.D.  Pliny  says  that  Leon,  an  artist 


LIFE    OF    SAPPHO  31 

otherwise  unknown,  painted  a  picture  of  her  in 
the  garb  of  a  lutist  (psaltrid). 

Numerous  illustrations  of  her  still  exist  upon 
Greek  vases,  most  of  which  have  been  repro- 
duced and  annotated  upon  by  Professor  Com- 
paretti  (see  Bibliography) ;  but  they  are  all  in 
a  debased  style,  and  one  would  feel  more  con- 
tent if  one  had  not  seen  them. 

Not  only  do  we  know  the  general  estimate  of 
Sappho  by  antiquity,  but  her  praise  is  also  often 
given  in  great  detail.  Dionysius  of  Halicar- 
nassus,  when  he  quotes  her  Ode  to  Aphrodite 
{fr.  i),  describes  at  length  the  beauty  of  her 
style.  Some  of  Demetrius'  praise  is  quoted  as 
fr.  124,  but  he  also  elaborately  shows  her  com- 
mand of  all  the  figures  and  arts  of  rhetoric. 
What  Longinus,  Plutarch,  and  Aristoxenus 
thought  of  her  I  have  summarised  under  fr.  2. 
The  story  of  Solon's  praise  is  given  under  fr. 
137.  And  Plutarch  in  his  Life  of  Demetrius,  tell- 
ing a  story  of  Antiochus'  (324-261  B.C.)  being  in 
love  with  Stratonice,  the  young  wife  of  his  father, 
and  making  a  "pretence  of  sickness,  says  that  his 
physician  Erasistratus  discovered  the  object  of 
the  passion  he  was  endeavouring  to  conceal  by 
observing  his  behaviour  at  the  entrance  of  every 
visitor  to  his  sick  chamber.  'When  others 
entered,'  says  Plutarch,  'he  was  entirely  un- 
affected ;  but  when  Stratonice  came  in,  as  she 


32  LIFEOFSAPPHO 

often  did,  either  alone  or  with  Seleucus  [his 
father,  King  of  Syria],  he  showed  all  the  symp- 
toms described  by  Sappho,  the  faltering  voice, 
the  burning  blush,  the  languid  eye,  the  sudden 
sweat,  the  tumultuous  pulse  ;  and  at  length,  the 
passion  overcoming  his  spirits,  he  fainted  to  a 
mortal  paleness.'  The  physician  noted  what 
Sappho  had  described  as  the  true  signs  of  love, 
and  Plutarch  touchingly  relates  how  the  king  in 
consequence  surrendered  Stratonice  to  his  son, 
and  made  them  king  a:  <!  queen  of  Upper  Asia. 

Modern  writers  are  not  less  unanimous  than 
the  ancients  in  their  praise  of  Sappho.  Addison 
prefixes  this  quotation  from  Phaedrus  (iii.  i,  5), 
to  his  first  essay  on  her  (Spectator,  No.  223): 
'  O  sweet  soul,  how  good  must  you  have  been 
heretofore,  when  your  remains  are  so  delicious  ! ' 
'  Her  soul,'  he  says,  '  seems  to  have  been 
made  up  of  love  and  poetry.  She  felt  the 
passion  in  all  its  warmth,  and  described  it  in 
all  its  symptoms.  ...  I  do  not  know,'  he 
goes  on,  'by  the  character  that  is  given  of 
her  works,  whether  it  is  not  for  the  benefit  of 
mankind  that  they  are  lost.  They  are  filled 
with  such  bewitching  tenderness  and  rapture, 
that  it  might  have  been  dangerous  to  have 
given  them  a  reading.' 

Mr.  J.  Addington  Symonds  says :  '  The  world 
has  suffered  no  greater  literary  loss  than  the  loss 


LIFE    OF    SAPPHO  33 

of  Sappho's  poems.  So  perfect  are  the  small- 
est fragments  preserved  .  .  .  that  we  muse  in 
a  sad  rapture  of  astonishment  to  think  what 
the  complete  poems  must  have  been.  . 
Of  all  the  poets  of  the  world,  of  all  the  illus- 
trious artists  of  all  literatures,  Sappho  is  the  one 
whose  every  word  has  a  peculiar  and  unmistak- 
able perfume,  a  seal  of  absolute  perfection  and 
illimitable  grace.  In  her  art  she  was  unerring. 
Even  Archilochus  seems  commonplace  when 
compared  with  her  exquisite  rarity  of  phrase. 
.  .  .  Whether  addressing  the  maidens,  whom 
even  in  Elysium,  as  Horace  says,  Sappho  could 
not  forget;  or  embodying  the  profounder 
yearnings  of  an  intense  soul  after  beauty  which 
has  never  on  earth  existed,  but  which  inflames 
the  hearts  of  noblest  poets,  robbing  their  eyes 
of  sleep,  and  giving  them  the  bitterness  of  tears 
to  drink— these  dazzling  fragments 

Which  still,  like  sparkles  of  Greek  fire, 
Burn  on  ihrough  Time,  and  ne'er  expire, 

are  the  ultimate  and  finished  forms  of  passionate 
utterance,  diamonds,  topazes,  and  blazing  rubies, 
in  which  the  fire  of  the  soul  is  crystallised  for 
ever.  ...  In  Sappho  and  Catullus  ...  we 
meet  with  richer  and  more  ardent  natures  [than 
those  of  Horace  and  Alcaeus]  :  they  are  endowed 
with  keener  sensibilities,  with  a  sensuality 
C 


34  LIFE    OF    SAPPHO 

more  noble  because  of  its  intensity,  with 
emotions  more  profound,  with  a  deeper  faculty 
of  thought,  that  never  loses  itself  in  the  shallows 
of  "Stoic-Epicurean  acceptance,"  but  simply 
and  exquisitely  apprehends  the  facts  of  human 
life.' 

And  some  passages  from  Swinburne's  Notes 
on  Poems  and  Reviews,  showing  a  modern 
poet's  endeavour  to  familiarise  his  readers  with 
Sappho's  spirit,  can  hardly  be  omitted.  Speak- 
ing of  his  poem  Anactoria,  he  says :  '  In  this 
poem  I  have  simply  expressed,  or  tried  to 
express,  that  violence  of  affection  between  one 
and  another  which  hardens  into  rage  and 
deepens  into  despair.  The  keynote  which  I 
have  here  touched,'  he  continues,  '  was  struck 
long  since  by  Sappho.  We  in  England  are 
taught,  are  compelled  under  penalties  to  learn, 
to  construe,  and  to  repeat,  as  schoolboys,  the 
imperishable  and  incomparable  verses  of  that 
supreme  poet;  and  I  at  least  am  grateful  for 
the  training.  I  have  wished,  and  I  have  even 
ventured  to  hope,  that  I  might  be  in  time 
competent  to  translate  into  a  baser  and  later 
language  the  divine  words  which  even  when  a 
boy  I  could  not  but  recognise  as  divine.  That 
hope,  if  indeed  I  dared  ever  entertain  such  a 
hope,  I  soon  found  fallacious.  To  translate 
the  two  odes  and  the  remaining  fragments  of 


LIFE    OF    SAPPHO  35 

Sappho  is  the  one  impossible  task;  and  as 
witness  of  this  I  will  call  up  one  of  the  greatest 
among  poets.  Catullus  "translated" — or  as 
his  countrymen  would  now  say  "  traduced  " — 
the  Ode  to  Anactoria — Eig  '  Epeonevav  :  a  more 
beautiful  translation  there  never  was  and  will 
never  be ;  but  compared  with  the  Greek,  it  is 
colourless  and  bloodless,  puffed  out  by  addi- 
tions and  enfeebled  by  alterations.  Let  any 
one  set  against  each  other  the  two  first  stanzas, 
Latin  and  Greek,  and  pronounce.  .  .  .  Where 
Catullus  failed,  I  could  not  hope  to  succeed; 
I  tried  instead  to  reproduce  in  a  diluted  and 
dilated  form  the  spirit  of  a  poem  which  could 
not  be  reproduced  in  the  body. 

'  Now  the  ode  Etc  '  EpcoMevav — the  "  Ode  to 
Anactoria "  (as  it  is  named  by  tradition) — the 
poem  .  .  .  which  has  in  the  whole  world  of 
verse  no  companion  and  no  rival  but  the  Ode 
to  Aphrodite,  has  been  twice  at  least  translated 
or  traduced.  .  .  .  To  the  best  (and  bad  is 
the  best)  of  their  ability,  they  [Nicholas  Boileau- 
Despreaux  and  Ambrose  Philips]  have  "done 
into"  bad  French  and  bad  English  the  very 
words  of  Sappho.  Feeling  that  although  I 
might  do  it  better  I  could  not  do  it  well,  I 
abandoned  the  idea  of  translation — exoov  CKKOVTI 
f€  eujucp-  I  tried  then  to  write  some  para- 
phrase of  the  fragments  which  the  Fates  and 


36  LIFEOFSAPPHO 

the  Christians  have  spared  us.  I  have  not 
said,  as  Boileau  and  Philips  have,  that  the 
speaker  sweats  and  swoons  at  sight  of  her 
favourite  by  the  side  of  a  man.  I  have  ab- 
stained from  touching  on  such  details,  for  this 
reason  :  that  I  felt  myself  incompetent  to  give 
adequate  expression  in  English  to  the  literal 
and  absolute  words  of  Sappho ;  and  would  not 
debase  and  degrade  them  into  a  viler  form. 
No  one  can  feel  more  deeply  than  I  do  the 
inadequacy  of  my  work.  "  That  is  not  Sappho," 
a  friend  once  said  to  me.  I  could  only  reply, 
"  It  is  as  near  as  I  can  come ;  and  no  man  can 
come  close  to  her."  Her  remaining  verses  are 
the  supreme  'success,  the  final  achievement,  of 
the  poetic  art.  ...  I  have  striven  to  cast  my 
spirit  into  the  mould  of  hers,  to  express  and 
represent  not  the  poem  but  the  poet.  I  did 
not  think  it  requisite  to  disfigure  the  page  with 
a  footnote  wherever  I  had  fallen  back  upon 
the  original  text.  Here  and  there,  I  need  not 
say,  I  have  rendered  into  English  the  very 
words  of  Sappho.  I  have  tried  also  to  work 
into  words  of  my  own  some  expression  of  their 
effect:  to  bear  witness  how,  more  than  any 
other's,  her  verses  strike  and  sting  the  memory 
in  lonely  places,  or  at  sea,  among  all  loftier 
sights  and  sounds — how  they  seem  akin  to  fire 
and  air,  being  themselves  "all  air  and  fire"; 


LIFE    OF    SAPPHO  37 

other  element  there  is  none  in  them.  As  to 
the  angry  appeal  against  the  supreme  mystery 
of  oppressive  heaven,  which  I  have  ventured  to 
put  into  her  mouth  at  that  point  only  where 
pleasure  culminates  in  pain,  affection  in  anger, 
and  desire  in  despair — they  are  to  be  taken 
as  the  first  outcome  or  outburst  of  foiled  and 
fruitless  passion  recoiling  on  itself.  After  this, 
the  spirit  finds  time  to  breathe  and  repose 
above  all  vexed  senses  of  the  weary  body,  all 
bitter  labours  of  the  revolted  soul ;  the  poet's 
pride  of  place  is  resumed,  the  lofty  conscience 
of  invincible  immortality  in  the  memories  and 
the  mouths  of  men.'  No  one  who  wishes  to 
understand  Sappho  can  afford  to  neglect  a 
study  of  the  poem  thus  annotated  by  its 
author.  As  Professor  F.  T.  Palgrave  justly 
says,  'Sappho  is  truly  pictorial  in  the  ancient 
sense :  the  image  always  simply  presented ;  the 
sentiment  left  to  our  sensibility.' 

The  Greek  comedies  relating  to  the  history 
of  Sappho,  referred  to  on  previous  pages,  were 
all  written  by  dramatists  who  belonged  to  what 
is  known  as  the  Middle  Comedy,  two  centuries 
after  her  time  (404-340  B.C.).  The  comedy  of 
that  period  was  devoted  to  satirising  classes  of 
people  rather  than  individuals,  to  ridiculing 
stock-characters,  to  criticising  the  systems  and 
merits  of  philosophers  and  writers,  to  parodies 


38  LIFE    OF    SAPPHO 

of  older  poets,  and  to  travesties  of  mythological 
subjects.  The  extent  to  which  the  licence  of 
the  comic  writers  of  that  age  had  reached  may 
be  judged  from  the  passing  of  the  law  referred 
to  on  a  previous  page  (p.  23) — HH  6ew  ovo/uaon 
KtojucpSetv — though  the  practice  continued  under 
ill-concealed  disguise.  Writers  of  such  a  temper 
were  obviously  unfit  to  hand  down  unsullied  a 
character  like  Sappho's,  powerful  though  their 
genius  might  be  to  make  their  inventions  seem 
more  true  than  actual  history — 'to  make  the 
worse  appear  the  better  reason.' 

Sappho  was  the  title  of  comedies  by  Amei- 
psias,  Amphis,  Antiphanes,  Dlphilus,  Ephip- 
pus,  and  Timocles,  but  very  little  is  known 
of  their  contents.  Of  those  by  Ameipsias 
and  Amphis  only  a  single  word  out  of  each 
survives.  Athenaeus  quotes  a  few  lines  out  of 
those  by  Ephippus  and  Timocles,  for  descrip- 
tions of  men  of  contemptible  character.  The 
same  writer  refers  to  that  by  Diphilus  for  his 
use  of  the  name  of  a  kind  of  cup  (MeTavurrpu;) 
which  was  used  to  drink  out  of  when  men  had 
washed  their  hands  after  dinner,  and  for  his 
having  represented  Archilochus  and  Hipponax 
(cf.  p.  9)  as  lovers  of  Sappho.  Of  that  by  Anti- 
phanes (cf.  p.  26),  who  was  the  most  celebrated 
and  the  most  prolific  of  the  playwrights  of  the 
Middle  Comedy,  we  have,  again  in  Athenaeus, 


LIFE    OF    SAPPHO  39 

a  longer  passage  preserved ;  but  it  is  merely  to 
show  the  poetess  proposing  and  solving  a  weari- 
some riddle  (rpi9o<;),  satirising  a  subtlety  his 
grosser  audience  could  not  understand. 

Besides  these,  Antiphanes  and  Plato  (the 
Comic  writer,  not  the  philosopher)  each  wrote 
a  play  called  Phaon.  Of  that  by  Antiphanes 
but  three  words  remain.  Plato's  drama  is 
several  times  quoted  by  Athenaeus,  but  only 
when  he  is  discussing  details  of  cookery — one 
passage  obviously  for  the  sake  of  its  coarseness. 
Menander  wrote  a  play  called  Leucadia,  and 
Antiphanes  one  called  Leucadius.  Antiphanes' 
play  furnishes  Athenaeus  with  nothing  but  a 
catalogue  of  seasonings.  Some  lines  out  of 
Menander's  Leucadia  are  quoted  above  (p.  17) 
from  Strabo,  and  it  is  referred  to  by  several 
authors  for  the  sake  of  some  word  or  phrase ; 
Servius,  commenting  on  Vergil's  Aeneid,  iii. 
274,  gives  a  precis  of  Turpilius'  Latin  para- 
phrase of  it,  which  is  mentioned  above,  p.  16. 

Such  is  our  knowledge  of  the  Comic  accounts 
of  Sappho's  history.  When  we  consider  the 
general  character  of  the  Middle  Comedy, 
written  as  it  was  to  please  the  Athenians  after 
their  golden  time  had  passed,  it  is  not  un- 
reasonable to  take  accounts  which  seem  to  have 
originated  in  such  treatment  with  somewhat 
more  than  diffidence. 


4O  LIFE    OF    SAPPHO 

But  it  is  not  only  the  Greek  dramatists  who 
have  written  plays  on  the  story  of  Sappho. 
Two  have  appeared  in  English  during  the  last 
few  years,  one  of  which,  by  the  late  Mrs. 
Estelle  Lewis  ('Stella'),  has  been  translated 
into  modern  Greek  by  Cambourogio  for  repre- 
sentation on  the  Athenian  stage.  The  most 
celebrated,  however,  and  one  of  considerable 
beauty,  is  by  John  Lilly,  '  the  Euphuist ' ;  it  is 
called  Sapho  and  Phao,  and  was  acted  before 
Queen  Elizabeth  in  1584.  The  whole  is 
allegorical,  Sapho  being  probably  meant  for 
Elizabeth,  queen  of  an  island,  and  Phao  is 
supposed  to  be  Leicester.  Lilly  makes  his 
Sapho  a  princess  of  Syracuse,  and  takes  other 
liberties — though  not  such  as  the  Greeks  did 
— with  her  history ;  strangely  enough,  however, 
he  makes  no  reference  to  the  Leucadian  leap. 
'When  Phao  cometh,' he  makes  Sapho  solilo- 
quise, '  what  then  ?  Wilt  thou  open  thy  love  ? 
Yea?  No,  Sapho,  but  staring  in  his  face  till 
thine  eyes  dazzle  and  thy  spirits  faint,  die 
before  his  face;  then  this  shall  be  written 
on  thy  tomb,  that  though  thy  love  were 
greater  than  wisdom  could  endure,  yet  thine 
honour  was  such  as  love  could  not  violate.' 
Venus  is  introduced  as  marring  their  mutual 
love,  and  Phao  says :  '  This  shall  be  my 
resolution,  wherever  I  wander,  to  be  as  I 


LIFE    OF    SAPPHO  41 

•were  kneeling  before  Sapho ;  my  loyalty 
unspotted,  though  unrewarded.  .  .  .  My  life 
shall  be  spent  in  sighing  and  wishing,  the 
one  for  my  bad  fortune,  the  other  for  Sapho's 
good.' 

In  France,  the  first  opera  written  by  the 
late  M.  Charles  Gounod  was  entitled  Sapho. 
The  libretto  was  by  M.  Emile  Augier.  It 
was  first  given  at  the  Academie,  April  16, 
1851  ;  and  in  Italian,  as  Saffo,  at  Covent 
Garden,  Aug.  9,  in  the  same  year.  It  was  re- 
produced in  1858,  and  again  in  the  new  Opera 
House,  April  3,  1884.  Each  time  both  author 
and  composer  recast  their  work,  which  contains 
many  brilliant  scenes  and  melodies.  The 
celebrated  Madame  de  Stael  wrote  a  drama 
called  Sapho,  but  it  has  been  long  forgotten. 
Alphonse  Daudet's  novel,  Sapho,  mceurs  Pari- 
siennes,  of  which  a  version  dramatised  by  M. 
Belot  was  played  for  the  first  time  at  the 
Gymnase  in  Paris,  December  18,  1885,  bears 
no  reference  to  the  poetess  beyond  the  sobri- 
quet of  the  heroine.  The  most  artistically 
finished  tragedy  of  the  German  dramatist 
Grillparzer  is  his  Sappho.  It  was  produced  at 
Vienna  in  1819,  and  is  still  played  at  many  of 
the  principal  German  theatres.  An  inferior 
Italian  translation  of  it  received  a  high  en- 
comium from  Lord  Byron.  It  is  best  known 


42  LIFE    OF    SAPPHO 

to  English  readers  by  Miss  Ellen  Frothingham's 
faithful  translation. 

About  forty  years  ago,  however,  Messrs. 
Thomas  Constable  &  Co.,  of  Edinburgh,  had 
issued  an  earlier  translation  of  the  play  by 
L.  C.  C.  [i.e.  Lucy  Caroline  Gumming];  and 
there  are  some  others. 

The  Queen  of  Roumania,  under  her  nom  de 
guerre  of  'Carmen  Sylva,'  is  the  most  distin- 
guished among  living  poets  who  have  idealised 
the  life  of  Sappho.  But  her  poem  under  that 
title,  published  in  her  Sturme,  owes  more  to  its 
rich  poetic  charm  than  to  the  actual  facts  of  the 
Greek  story ;  in  it  the  Lesbian  seems  to  live  in 
the  Germany  of  to-day. 

Although  so  little  of  Sappho  remains,  her 
complete  works  must  have  been  considerable. 
She  seems  to  have  been  the  chief  acknowledged 
writer  of  'Wedding-Songs,'  if  we  may  believe 
Himerius  (cf.  fr.  93) ;  and  there  is  little  doubt 
that  Catullus'  Epithalamia  were  copied,  if  not 
actually  translated,  from  hers.  Menander  the 
Rhetorician  praises  her  'Invocatory  Hymns,' 
in  which  he  says  she  called  upon  Artemis 
and  Aphrodite  from  a  thousand  hills ;  perhaps 
fr.  6  is  taken  out  of  one  of  these.  Her  hymn 
to  Artemis  is  said  to  have  been  imitated 
by  Damophyla  (cf.  p.  24).  She  was  on  all 
sides  regarded  as  the  greatest  erotic  poet  of 


LIFE    OF    SAPPHO  43 

antiquity ;  as  Swinburne  makes  her  sing  of 
herself — 

My  blood  was  hot  wan  wine  of  love, 
And  my  song's  sound  the  sound  thereof, 
The  sound  of  the  delight  of  it. 

Epigrams  and  Elegies,  Iambics  and  Monodies, 
she  is  also  reported  to  have  written.  Nine 
books  of  her  lyric  Odes  are  said  to  have  ex- 
isted, but  it  is  uncertain  how  they  were  com- 
posed. The  imitations  of  her  style  and  metre 
made  by  Horace  are  too  well  known  to  require 
more  than  a  passing  reference.  Some  of  his 
odes  have  been  regarded  as  direct  translations 
from  Sappho;  notably  his  Carm.  iii.  12,  Miser- 
arum  est  nequc  amori  dare  ludum  nequc  dulci, 
which  Volger  compares  to  her  fr.  90.  Horace 
looked  forward  to  hearing  her  in  Hades  singing 
plaintively  to  the  girls  of  her  own  country 
(Carm.  ii.  13,  I41),  and  in  his  time 

Still  breathed  the  love,  still  lived  the  fire 
To  which  the  Lesbian  tuned  her  lyre. 

(Carm.  iv.  9.  10.) 

1  A  quaint  mediaeval  commentator  on  Horace,  quoted 
by  Professor  Comparetti,  says  this  passage  (querentem 
Sappho  puellis  de  popularibus)  refers  to  Sappho's  com- 
plaining, even  in  Hades,  of  her  Lesbian  fellow-maidens 
for  not  loving  the  youth  with  whom  she  was  herself  so 
much  in  love. 


44  LIFE    OF    SAPPHO 

Athenaeus  says  that  Chamaeleon,  one  of  the 
disciples  of  Aristotle,  wrote  a  book  about 
Sappho;  and  Strabo  says  Callias  of  Lesbos 
interpreted  her  songs.  Alexander  the  Sophist 
used  to  lecture  on  her;  and  Dracon  of  Stra- 
tonica,  in  the  reign  of  Hadrian,  wrote  a  com- 
mentary on  her  metres. 

She  wrote  in  the  Aeolic  dialect,  the  form  of 
which  Bergk  has  restored  in  almost  every  in- 
stance. The  absence  of  rough  breathings,  the 
throwing  back  of  the  accent,  and  the  use  of  the 
digamma  (F)  and  of  many  forms  and  words 
unknown  to  ordinary  Attic  Greek,  all  testify  to 
this.  Three  idyls  ascribed  to  Theocritus  (cf. 
fr.  65)  are  imitations  of  the  dialect,  metre,  and 
manner  of  the  old  Aeolic  poets;  and  the  28th, 
says  Professor  Mahaffy,  'is  an  elegant  little 
address  to  an  ivory  spindle  which  the  poet  was 
sending  as  a  present  to  the  wife  of  his  physician 
friend,  Nikias  of  Cos,  and  was  probably  com- 
posed on  the  model  of  a  poem  of  Sappho.' 

Her  poems  or  jueAH  were  undoubtedly  written 
for  recitation  with  the  aid  of  music ;  '  they 
were,  in  fact,'  to  quote  Professor  Mahaffy  again, 
'the  earliest  specimens  of  what  is  called  in 
modern  days  the  Song  or  Ballad,  in  which  the 
repetition  of  short  rhythms  produces  a  certain 
pleasant  monotony,  easy  to  remember  and  easy 
to  understand.' 


LIFEOFSAPPHO  45 

What  Melic  poetry  like  Sappho's  actually  was 
is  best  comprehended  in  the  light  of  Plato's 
definition  of  melos,  that  it  is  '  compounded  out 
of  three  things,  speech,  music,  and  rhythm.' 

Aristoxenus,  as  quoted  by  Plutarch,  ascribes 
to  her  the  invention  of  the  Mixo-Lydian  mode. 
Mr.  William  Chappell  thinks  the  plain  mean- 
ing of  Aristoxenus'  assertion  is  merely  that  she 
sang  softly  and  plaintively,  and  at  a  higher 
pitch  than  any  of  her  predecessors.  All  Greek 
modes  can  be  exhibited  by  means  of  our 
diatonic  scale — by  the  white  keys,  for  example, 
omitting  the  black  ones,  of  our  modern  piano- 
fortes ;  the  various  modes  having  been  merely 
divisions  of  the  diatonic  scale  into  certain 
regions  each  consisting  of  one  octave.  The 
ecclesiastical  Mixo-Lydian  mode,  supposed  to 
be  similar  to  the  Greek  mode  of  the  same 
name,  is  the  scale  of  our  G  major  without  the 
F$  or  leading  note.  It  was  called  in  the  early 
Christian  Church  'the  angelic  mode/  and  is 
now  known  as  the  Seventh  of  the  ecclesiastical 
or  Gregorian  modes.  The  more  celebrated 
instances  of  the  use  of  this  mode  in  modern 
church  music  are  Palestrina's  four-part  motet 
Dies  sanctificatus,  the  Antiphon  Asperges  me  as 
given  in  the  Roman  Gradual,  and  the  Sarum 
melody  of  Sanctorum  meritis  printed  in  the 
Rev.  T.  Helmore's  Hymnal  Noted,  The  sub- 


46  LIFEOFSAPPHO 

joined  example  of  it  is  given  in  Sir  George 
Grove's  Dictionary  of  Music  and  Musicians : — 

r— fr g3_^-g>       *"*        1 

together  with  a  technical  description  of  its 
construction. 

Sappho  is  said  by  Athenaeus,  quoting 
Menaechmus  and  Aristoxenus,  to  have  been 
the  first  of  the  Greek  poets  to  use  the  Pektis 
(TTHKTUJ),  a  foreign  instrument  of  uncertain  form, 
a  kind  of  harp  (cf.  fr.  122),  which  was  played 
by  the  fingers  without  a  plectrum.  Athenaeus 
says  the  Pektis  was  identical  with  the  Magadis, 
but  in  this  he  was  plainly  wrong,  for  Mr.  Wil- 
liam Chappell  has  shown  that  any  instrument 
which  was  played  in  octaves  was  called  a  Maga- 
dis, and  when  it  was  in  the  form  of  a  lyre  it  had 
a  bridge  to  divide  the  strings  into  two  parts, 
in  the  ratio  of  2  to  i,  so  that  the  short  part  of 
each  string  gave  a  sound  just  one  octave  higher 
than  the  other.  Sappho  also  mentions  (in  fr. 
154)  the  Baromos  or  Barmos,  and  the  Sarbitos 
or  Barbitos,  kinds  of  many-stringed  Lesbian 
lyres  which  cannot  now  be  identified. 

As  to  the  metres  in  which  Sappho  wrote,  it 
is  unnecessary  to  describe  them  elaborately 
here.  They  are  discussed  in  all  treatises  on 
Greek  or  Latin  metres,  and  Neue  has  treated 


LIFE    OF    SAPPHO  47 

of  them  at  great  length  in  his  edition  of  Sappho. 
Suffice  it  to  say  that  Bergk  has  as  far  as 
possible  arranged  the  fragments  according  to 
their  metres,  of  which  I  have  given  indications 
— often  purposely  general — in  the  headings  to 
the  various  divisions.  The  metre  commonly 
called  after  her  name  was  probably  not  in- 
vented by  her;  it  was  only  called  Sapphic 
because  of  her  frequent  use  of  it  Its  strophe 
is  made  up  thus  : 


Professor  Robinson  Ellis,  in  the  preface  to  his 
translation  of  Catullus,  gives  some  examples  of 
Elizabethan  renderings  of  the  Sapphic  stanza 
into  English ;  but  nothing  repeats  its  rhythm  to 
my  ear  so  well  as  Swinburne's  Sapphics : 

All  the  night  sleep  came  not  upon  my  eyelids, 
Shed  not  dew,  nor  shook  nor  unclosed  a  feather, 
Yet  with  lips  shut  close  and  with  eyes  of  iron 
Stood  and  beheld  me. 

With  such  lines  as  these  ringing  in  the  reader's 
ears,  he  can  almost  hear  Sappho  herself 
singing 

Songs  that  move  the  heart  of  the  shaken  heaven, 
Songs  that  break  the  heart  of  the  earth  with  pity, 
Hearing,  to  hear  them. 


48  LIFE    OF    SAPPHO 

In  the  face  of  so  much  testimony  to  Sappho's 
genius,  and  in  the  presence  of  every  glowing 
word  of  hers  that  has  been  spared  to  us,  those 
'grains  of  golden  sand  which  the  torrent  of 
Time  has  carried  down  to  us,'  as  Professor 
F.  T.  Palgrave  says,  there  is  no  need  for 
me  to  panegyrise  the  poetess  whom  the  whole 
world  has  been  long  since  contented  to  hold 
without  a  parallel.  What  Sappho  wrote,  to  earn 
such  unchallenged  fame,  we  can  only  vainly 
long  to  know;  what  still  remains  for  us  to 
judge  her  by,  I  am  willing  to  leave  my  readers 
to  estimate. 


I 

IN  SAPPHIC  METRE 


TToiKiAo9(ST>v  ,  aedverr'  'A<pp66iTa, 
nal  AIOQ,  6oAonAoKe,  AioooMai  ae 
JUH  fi'  aaaiai  /HHT*  ovicuai  bduva, 

TiOTvia,  6G(uov 

aAAa  ruib'  e\0',  airrora  KarepcoTa 
rag  ejuaq  aubcog  atoioa  TTHAUI 

6e  66juov  Ainoiaa 


'  uTTO?eu£aiaa'  KaAoi  6t  a'  afov 

orpoOeoi  nepi  fac  MeAaivaq 

nuKvo  biveuvreq  nrep'  aTT5  wpcivco  ai6e- 

paq  ciu  jiiiaoco. 

atya  6'  e£iKovTO'  TU  6',  <S  M^Kaipa, 
jueibidaaia'  aSavotrcp  npocscontp, 
Hpe',  6m  &HUT6  ncnovOa  KWTTI 

6HUT6  KOAHMl, 

KWTTI  noi  MaAiora  GeAco  f  evesSai 
jicuvoAa  6ujacp'  riva  bHure  TTeiGco 
you;  5f  HV  eq  sav  (piAorara,  TIQ  c',  <L 


D 


5O  SAPPHO 

KOI  rap  ai  9€Ufei,  raxeax;  6ia>£ei, 
ai  6e  6a>pa  HH 
at  6e  HH  <piAei, 

KOOUK  t9eAoiaa. 

eA0e  /noi  KOI  vOv,  xaAeirav  6e  Auaov 
€K  nepiuvav,  ooau  6e  J^LOI  reAeaoai 

lueppei,  reAeaov  ou  6'  aura 
eaao. 


Immortal  Aphrodite  of  tJie  broidered  throne* 
daughter  of  Zeus,  weaver  of  wiles,  I  pray  tfiec 
break  not  my  spirit  with  anguish  and  distress,  O 
Queen.  But  come  hither,  if  ever  before  thou  didst 
hear  my  voice  afar,  and  listen,  and  leaving  thy 
father's  golden  house  earnest  with  chariot  yoked, 
and  fair  fleet  sparrows  drew  thee,  flapping  fast 
their  wings  around  the  dark  earth,  from  heaven 
through  mid  sky.  Quickly  arrived  they  ;  and 
thou,  blessed  one,  smiling  with  immortal  counte- 
nance, didst  ask  What  now  is  befallen  me,  and 
Why  now  I  call,  and  What  I  in  my  mad  heart 
most  desire  to  see.  c  What  Beauty  now  wouldst 
thou  draw  to  love  thee  ?  Who  wrongs  thee, 
Sappho  ?  For  even  if  she  flies  she  shall  soon 
follow,  and  if  she  rejects  gifts  shall  yet  give,  and 
if  she  loves  not  shall  soon  love,  however  loth? 
Come,  I  pray  thee,  now  too,  and  release  me  from 
cruel  cares  ;  and  all  that  my  heart  desires  to 
accomplish,  accomplish  thou,  and  be  thyself  my 
ally. 


IN    SAPPHIC    METRE  51 


A  HYMN  TO  VENUS. 

O  Venus,  beauty  of  the  skies, 

To  whom  a  thousand  temples  rise, 

Gaily  false  in  gentle  smiles, 

Full  of  love-perplexing  wiles ; 

O  goddess,  from  my  heart  remove 

The  wasting  cares  and  pains  of  love. 

If  ever  thou  hast  kindly  heard 
A  song  in  soft  distress  preferred, 
Propitious  to  my  tuneful  vow, 

0  gentle  goddess,  hear  me  now. 
Descend,  thou  bright  immortal  guest, 
In  all  thy  radiant  charms  confessed. 

Thou  once  didst  leave  almighty  Jove 
And  all  the  golden  roofs  above ; 
The  car  thy  wanton  sparrows  drew, 
Hovering  in  air  they  lightly  flew ; 
As  to  my  bower  they  winged  their  way 

1  saw  their  quivering  pinions  play. 

The  birds  dismissed  (while  you  remain) 
Bore  back  their  empty  car  again  : 
Then  you,  with  looks  divinely  mild, 
In  every  heavenly  feature  smiled, 
And  asked  what  new  complaints  I  made, 
And  why  I  called  you  to  my  aid  ? 


52  SAPPHO 

What  frenzy  in  my  bosom  raged, 
And  by  what  cure  to  be  assuaged  ? 
What  gentle  youth  I  would  allure. 
Whom  in  my  artful  toils  secure  ? 
Who  does  thy  tender  heart  subdue, 
Tell  me,  my  Sappho,  tell  me  who  ? 

Though  now  he  shuns  thy  longing  arms, 
He  soon  shall  court  thy  slighted  charms ; 
Though  now  thy  offerings  he  despise, 
He  soon  to  thee  shall  sacrifice ; 
Though  now  he  freeze,  he  soon  shall  burn, 
And  be  thy  victim  in  his  turn. 

Celestial  visitant,  once  more 
Thy  needful  presence  I  implore. 
In  pity  come,  and  ease  my  grief, 
Bring  my  distempered  soul  relief, 
Favour  thy  suppliant's  hidden  fires, 
And  give  me  all  my  heart  desires. 

AMBROSE  PHILIPS,  1711. 


TO  THE  GODDESS  OF  LOVE. 

O  Venus,  daughter  of  the  mighty  Jove, 
Most  knowing  in  the  mystery  of  love, 
Help  me,  oh  help  me,  quickly  send  relief, 
And  suffer  not  my  heart  to  break  with  grief. 


IN    SAPPHIC    METRE  53 

If  ever  thou  didst  hear  me  when  I  prayed, 
Come  now,  my  goddess,  to  thy  Sappho's  aid. 
Orisons  used,  such  favour  hast  thou  shewn, 
From  heaven's   golden   mansions  called  thee 
down. 

See,  see,  she  comes  in  her  cerulean  car, 
Passing  the  middle  regions  of  the  air. 
Mark  how  her  nimble  sparrows  stretch  the  wing, 
And  wjth  uncommon  speed  their  Mistress  bring. 

Arrived,  and  sparrows  loosed,  hastens  to  me ;. 
Then  smiling  asks,  What  is  it  troubles  thee  ? 
Why  am  I  called  ?  Tell  me  what  Sappho  wants. 
Oh,  know  you  not  the  cause  of  all  my  plaints  ? 

I  love,  I  burn,  and  only  love  require ; 
And  nothing  less  can  quench  the  raging  fire. 
What  youth,  what  raving  lover  shall  I  gain  ? 
Where  is  the  captive  that  should  wear  my  chain? 

Alas,  poor  Sappho,  who  is  this  ingrate 
Provokes  thee  so,  for  love  returning  hate  ? 
Does  he  now  fly  thee  ?     He  shall  soon  return  ; 
Pursue  thee,  and  with  equal  ardour  burn. 

Would  he  no  presents  at  thy  hands  receive  ? 
He  will  repent  it,  and  more  largely  give. 
The  force  of  love  no  longer  can  withstand  ; 
He  must  be  fond,  wholly  at  thy  command. 


54  SAPPHO 

When   wilt    thou  work   this    change?      Now, 

Venus  free, 

Now  ease  my  mind  of  so  much  misery  j 
In  this  amour  my  powerful  aider  be ; 
Make  Phaon  love,  but  let  him  love  like  me. 

HERBERT,  1713. 


HYMN  TO  VENUS. 

Immortal  Venus,  throned  above 
In  radiant  beauty,  child  of  Jove, 
O  skilled  in  every  art  of  love 

And  artful  snare ; 

Dread  power,  to  whom  I  bend  the  knee, 
Release  my  soul  and  set  it  free 
From  bonds  of  piercing  agony 

And  gloomy  care. 
Yet  come  thyself,  if  e'er,  benign, 
Thy  listening  ears  thou  didst  incline 
To  my  rude  lay,  the  starry  shine 

Of  Jove's  court  leaving, 
In  chariot  yoked  with  coursers  fair, 
Thine  own  immortal  birds  that  bear 
Thee  swift  to  earth,  the  middle  air 

With  bright  wings  cleaving. 
Soon  they  were  sped — and  thou,  most  blest, 
In  thine  own  smiles  ambrosial  dressed, 
Didst  ask  what  griefs  my  mind  oppressed — 

What  meant  my  song — 


IN    SAPPHIC    METRE  55 

What  end  my  frenzied  thoughts  pursue — 
For  what  loved  youth  I  spread  anew 
My  amorous  nets — '  Who,  Sappho,  who 
'  Hath  done  thee  wrong  ? 

*  What  though  he  fly,  he  11  soon  return — 

*  Still  press  thy  gifts,  though  now  he  spurn ; 
'  Heed  not  his  coldness — soon  hell  burn, 

'  E'en  though  thou  chide.' 
— And  saidst  thou  thus,  dread  goddess  ?    Oh, 

Come  then  once  more  to  ease  my  woe : 
Grant  all,  and  thy  great  self  bestow, 

My  shield  and  guide ! 

JOHN  HERMAN  MERIVALE,  1833. 

HYMN  TO  APHRODITE. 

Golden-throned  beyond  the  sky, 
Jove-born  immortality : 
Hear  and  heal  a  suppliant's  pain : 
Let  not  love  be  love  in  vain ! 

Come,  as  once  to  Love's  imploring 
Accents  of  a  maid's  adoring, 
Wafted  'neath  the  golden  dome 
Bore  thee  from  thy  father's  home ; 

When  far  off  thy  coming  glowed, 
Whirling  down  th'  aethereal  road, 
On  thy  dove-drawn  progress  glancing, 
'Mid  the  light  of  wings  advancing ; 


56  SAPPHO 

And  at  once  the  radiant  hue 
Of  immortal  smiles  I  knew ; 
Heard  the  voice  of  reassurance 
Ask  the  tale  of  love's  endurance : — 

*  Why  such  prayer  ?  And  who  for  thee, 
Sappho,  should  be  touch'd  by  me ; 
Passion-charmed  in  frenzy  strong — 
Who  hath  wrought  my  Sappho  wrong  ? 

'  — Soon  for  flight  pursuit  wilt  find, 
Proffer'd  gifts  for  gifts  declined ; 
Soon,  thro'  long  reluctance  earn'd, 
Love  refused  be  Love  return'd.' 

— To  thy  suppliant  so  returning, 
Consummate  a  maiden's  yearning : 
Love,  from  deep  despair  set  free, 
Championing  to  victory ! 

F.  T.  PALGRAVE,  1854. 

Splendour-throned  Queen,  immortal  Aphrodite, 
Daughter  of  Jove,  Enchantress,  I  implore  thee 
Vex  not  my  soul  with  agonies  and  anguish ; 

Slay  me  not,  Goddess  ! 

Come  in  thy  pity — come,  if  I  have  prayed  thee ; 
Come  at  the  cry  of  my  sorrow ;  in  the  old  times 
Oft  thou  hast  heard,  and  left  thy  father's  heaven, 

Left  the  gold  houses, 
Yoking  thy  chariot.     Swiftly  did  the  doves  fly, 


IN    SAPPHIC    METRE  57 

Swiftly  they  brought  thee,  waving  plumes  of 

wonder — 
Waving  their  dark  plumes  all  across  the  aether, 

All  down  the  azure. 
Very  soon   they  lighted.      Then  didst  thou, 

Divine  one, 
Laugh  a    bright    laugh  from  lips    and    eyes 

immortal, 

Ask  me,  'What  ailed  me — wherefore  out  of 
heaven 

'Thus  I  had  called  thee? 
'  What  it  was  made  me  madden  in  my  heart  so?' 
Question  me,  smiling — say  to  me,  '  My  Sappho, 
'  Who  is  it  wrongs  thee  ?    Tell  me  who  refuses 

'  Thee,  vainly  sighing.' 

1  Be  it  who  it  may  be,  he  that  flies  shall  follow ; 
'  He  that  rejects  gifts,  he  shall  bring  thee  many ; 
'  He  that  hates  now  shall  love  thee  dearly,  madly — 

'  Aye,  though  thou  wouldst  not.' 
So  once  again  come,  Mistress ;  and,  releasing 
Me  from  my  sadness,  give  me  what  I  sue  for, 
Grant  me  my  prayer,  and  be  as  heretofore  now 
Friend  and  protectress. 

EDWIN  ARNOLD,  1869. 

Beautiful-throned,  immortal  Aphrodite, 
Daughter  of  Zeus,  beguiler,  I  implore  thee, 
Weigh  me  not  down  with  weariness  and  anguish 
O  thou  most  holy  ! 


58  SAPPHO 

Come  to  me  now,  if  ever  thou  in  kindness 
Hearkenedst  my  words, — and  often  hast  thou 

hearkened — 

Heeding,  and  coming  from  the  mansions  golden 
Of  thy  great  Father, 

Yoking  thy  chariot,  borne  by  the  most  lovely 
Consecrated  birds,  with  dusky-tinted  pinions, 
Waving   swift  wings   from   utmost    heights  of 
heaven 

Through  the  mid-ether ; 

Swiftly  they  vanished,  leaving  thee,  O  goddess, 
Smiling,  with  face  immortal  in  its  beauty, 
Asking  why  I  grieved,  and  why  in  utter  longing 
I  had  dared  call  thee ; 

Asking  what  I  sought,  thus  hopeless  in  desiring, 
Wildered    in    brain,    and    spreading  nets   of 

passion — 
Alas,  for  whom  ?  and  saidst  thou,  '  Who  has 

harmed  thee  ? 

'  O  my  poor  Sappho  ! 

1  Though  now  he  flies,  ere  long  he  shall  pursue 

thee; 
'Fearing  thy  gifts,  he  too  in  turn  shall  bring 

them; 

'  Loveless  to-day,  to-morrow  he  shall  woo  thee, 
*  Though  thou  shouldst  spurn  him.' 


IN    SAPPHIC    METRE  59 

Thus  seek  me  now,  O  holy  Aphrodite ! 
Save  me  from  anguish ;  give  me  all  I  ask  for, 
Gifts  at  thy  hand ;  and  thine  shall  be  the  glory, 
Sacred  protector ! 

T.  W.  HIGGINSON,  1871. 

O  fickle-souled,  deathless  one,  Aphrodite, 

Daughter  of  Zeus,  weaver  of  wiles,  I  pray  thee, 
Lady  august,  never  with  pangs  and  bitter 
Anguish  affray  me ! 

But  hither  come  often,  as  erst  with  favour 

My  invocations  pitifully  heeding, 
Leaving  thy  sire's  golden  abode,  thou  earnest 
Down  to  me  speeding. 

Yoked  to  thy  car,  delicate  sparrows  drew  thee 
Fleetly  to  earth,  fluttering  fast  their  pinions, 
From  heaven's  height  through  middle  ether's 
liquid 

Sunny  dominions. 

Soon  they  arrived ;  thou,  O  divine  one,  smiling 
Sweetly  from  that  countenance  all  immortal, 
Askedst  my  grief,  wherefore  I  so  had  called  thee 
From  the  bright  portal  ? 

What   my   wild    soul    languished   for,   frenzy- 
stricken  ? 

4  Who  thy  love  now  is  it  that  ill  requiteth, 
Sappho  ?  and  who  thee  and  thy  tender  yearning 
Wrongfully  slighteth  ? 


60  SAPPHO 

Though  he  now  fly,  quickly  he  shall  pursue 

thee — 
Scorns  he  thy  gifts?    Soon  he  shall  freely 

offer — 

Loves  he  not  ?    Soon,  even  wert  thou  unwilling, 
Love  shall  he  proffer.' 

Come  to  me  then,  loosen  me  from  my  torment, 
All  my  heart's  wish  unto  fulfilment  guide 

thou, 

Grant  and  fulfil !    And  an  ally  most  trusty 
Ever  abide  thou. 

MORETON  JOHN  WALHOUSE,  in  The 
Gentleman's  Magazine,  1877. 

Glittering-throned,  undying  Aphrodite, 
Wile-weaving  daughter  of  high  Zeus,  I  pray 

thee, 
Tame    not  my  soul  with  heavy  woe,   dread 

mistress, 
Nay,  nor  with  anguish ! 

But  hither  come,  if  ever  erst  of  old  time 
Thou  didst  incline,  and  listenedst  to  my  crying, 
And  from  thy  father's  palace  down  descending, 
Camest  with  golden 

Chariot  yoked :  thee  fair  swift-flying  sparrows 
Over  dark  earth  with  multitudinous  fluttering, 
Pinion  on  pinion,  thorough  middle  ether 
Down  from  heaven  hurried. 


IN    SAPPHIC    METRE  6l 

Quickly  they  came  like  light,  and  thou,  blest 

lady, 

Smiling  with  clear  undying  eyes  didst  ask  me 
What  was    the  woe    that   troubled  me,  and 

wherefore 

I  had  cried  to  thee : 

What  thing  I  longed  for  to  appease  my  frantic 
Soul :  and  Whom  now  must  I  persuade,  thou 

askedst, 

Whom  must  entangle  to  thy  love,  and  who  now, 
Sappho,  hath  wronged  thee  ? 

Yea,  for  if  now  he  shun,  he  soon  shall  chase 

thee; 
Yea,  if  he  take  not  gifts,  he  soon  shall  give 

them; 

Yea,  if  he  love  not,  soon  shall  he  begin  to 
Love  thee,  unwilling. 

Come  to  me  now  too,  and  from  tyrannous 

sorrow 

Free  me,  and  all  things  that  my  soul  desires  to 
Have  done,  do  for  me,  queen,  and  let  thyself  too 
Be  my  great  ally ! 

J.  ADDINGTON  SYMONDS,  1893. 

Besides    these    complete    versions  —  many 
others  there  are,  but  these  are  by  far  the  best 


62  SAPPHO 

— compare  the  following  stanza  out  of  Aken- 
side's  Ode  on  Lyric  Poetry  (about  1745) : — 

But  lo,  to  Sappho's  melting  airs 

Descends  the  radiant  queen  of  Love : 
She  smiles,  and  asks  what  fonder  cares 

Her  suppliant's  plaintive  measures  move : 
Why  is  my  faithful  maid  distressed  ? 
Who,  Sappho,  wounds  thy  tender  breast  ? 
Say,  flies  he  ? — Soon  he  shall  pursue. 

Shuns  he  thy  gifts  ? — He  soon  shall  give. 

Slights  he  thy  sorrows  ? — He  shall  grieve, 
And  soon  to  all  thy  wishes  bow. 

And  Swinburne's  paraphrase — 

For  I  beheld  in  sleep  the  light  that  is 
In  her  high  place  in  Paphos,  heard  the  kiss 
Of  body  and  soul  that  mix  with  eager  tears 
And  laughter  stinging  through  the  eyes  and 

ears: 

Saw  Love,  as  burning  flame  from  crown  to  feet, 
Imperishable,  upon  her  storied  seat ; 
Clear  eyelids  lifted  toward  the  north  and  south, 
A  mind  of  many  colours,  and  a  mouth 
Of  many  tunes  and  kisses  ;  and  she  bowed, 
With  all  her  subtle  face  laughing  aloud, 
Bowed  down  upon  me,   saying,   'Who  doth 

thee  wrong, 
Sappho  ? '  but  thou — thy  body  is  the  song, 


IN    SAPPHIC    METRE  63 

Thy  mouth  the  music ;  thou  art  more  than  I, 
Though  my  voice  die  not  till  the  whole  world 

die; 
Though  men  that  hear  it  madden ;  though  love 

weep, 
Though    nature    change,    though    shame    be 

charmed  to  sleep. 

Ay,  wilt  thou  slay  me  lest  I  kiss  thee  dead  ? 
Yet  the  queen  laughed  from  her  sweet  heart 

and  said : 

'  Even  she  that  flies  shall  follow  for  thy  sake, 
And  she  shall  give  thee  gifts  that  would  not  take, 
Shall  kiss  that  would  not  kiss  thee '  (yea,  kiss  me) 
'  When  thou  wouldst  not ' — when  I  would  not 

kiss  thee ! 

Anactoria,  p.  67  £ 

And  his — 

O  tJiou  of  divers-coloured  mind,1  O  thou 
Deathless^  God's  daughter  subtle-souled — lo  now, 
Now  to  the  song  above  all  songs,  in  flight 
Higher  than  the  day-star's  height, 
And  sweet  as  sound  the  moving  wings  of  night ! 
Thou  of  the  divers-coloured  seat — behold 
Her  very  song  of  old  ! — 

O  deathless,  O  God's  daughter  subtle-souled  I 
***** 

1  TioiKiA69povJ  =  on  richly  worked  throne,  is  by  some 
read  noiKiA6<ppov  =  full  of  various  wiles,  subtle-minded. 


64  SAPPHO 

Child  of  God,  close  craftswoman,  I  beseech  thee  ; 
Bid  not  ache  nor  agony  break  nor  master, 
Lady,  my  spirit. 

Songs  of  the  Spring-tides:  On  the  Cliffs. 

As  well  as  Frederick  Tennyson's  — 

Come  to  me  ;  what  I  seek  in  vain 
Bring  thou  ;  into  my  spirit  send 
Peace  after  care,  balm  after  pain  ; 
And  be  my  friend. 

Dionysius  of  Halicarnassus,  writing  at  Rome 
about  25  B.C.,  quotes  this,  commonly  called 
The  Ode  to  Aphrodite,  as  a  perfect  illustration 
of  the  elaborately  finished  style  of  poetry, 
showing  in  detail  how  its  grace  and  beauty  lie 
in  the  subtle  harmony  between  the  words  and 
the  ideas.  Certain  lines  of  it,  though  nowhere 
else  the  whole,  are  preserved  by  Hephaestion 
and  other  authors. 

2 

<t>aiveral  »AOI  KHVOC  Too<;  9eoioiv 
a>vHp,  OSTIQ  evavrioc  TOI 


Udvei,  Kai  nAaaiov  a&u  <pa>V€u- 

oac  UTTCtKOuei 

Kai  reAaiaac  iMepoev,  TO  jmoi  judv 
Kapbiav  ev  OTHGeaiv  errroaoev 
ax;  rap  euibov  3poxeo><;  ae, 

oubev  cr5 


IN    SAPPHIC    METRE  65 

KOM  juev  fAwoaa  eotfe,  Aenrov  I' 


onnareGat  b'  oubev  opHjn',  enippoju- 

Peioi  6'  aKOuai. 

a  be  MiSp^C  KaKxterat,  Tpojioq  6e 
natoav  afpei,  x^^pOTepa  6e  noiaq 
eMMi,  TeGvaKHv  6'  oAifco  'ntbeuHQ 

^aivoMai  [aAAa]. 
aAAa  nav  TO\)HUTOV,  [enei  KQI  nevHTa]. 

That  man  seems  to  me  peer  of  gods,  who  sits 
in  thy  presence  \  and  hears  close  to  him  thy  sweet 
speech  and  lovely  laughter  ;  that  indeed  makes 
my  heart  flutter  in  my  bosom.  For  when  I  see 
thee  but  a  little,  I  have  no  utterance  left,  my 
tongue  is  broken  down,  and  straightway  a  subtle 
fire  has  run  under  my  skin,  with  my  eyes  I  have 
no  sight,  my  ears  ring,  sweat  pours  down,  and  a 
trembling  seizes  all  my  body  ;  I  am  paler  than 
grass,  and  seem  in  my  madness  little  better  t/ian 
one  dead.  But  I  must  dare  all,  since  one  so 
poor  .  .  . 

The  famous  imitation  of  this  ode  by  Catullus, 
li.,  Ad  Lesbiam  — 

Ille  mi  par  esse  deo  videtur, 
Ille,  si  fas  est,  superare  divos, 
Qui  sedens  adversus  identidem  te 
Spectat  et  audit 
E 


66  SAPPHO 

Dulce  ridentem,  misero  quod  omnis 
Eripit  sensus  mihi :  nam  simul  te, 

Lesbia,  aspexi,  nihil  est  super  mi 

*         #         *         *         * 

Lingua  sed  torpet,  tenuis  sub  artus 
Flamma  demanat,  sonitu  suopte 
Tintinant  aures,  gemina  teguntur 
Lumina  nocte — 

is  thus  translated  by  Mr.  W.  E.  Gladstone : — 

Him  rival  to  the  gods  I  place, 

Him  loftier  yet,  if  loftier  be,  • 
Who,  Lesbia,  sits  before  thy  face, 

Who  listens  and  who  looks  on  thee ; 

Thee  smiling  soft.  Yet  this  delight 
Doth  all  my  sense  consign  to  death ; 

For  when  thou  dawnest  on  my  sight, 
Ah,  wretched  !  flits  my  labouring  breath. 

My  tongue  is  palsied.     Subtly  hid 

Fire  creeps  me  through  from  limb  to  limb 

My  loud  ears  tingle  all  unbid : 

Twin  clouds  of  night  mine  eyes  bedim. 

arid  recently  by  the  late  Sir  R.  F.  Burton : — 

Peer  of  a  god  meseemeth  he, 
Nay,  passing  gods  (an  that  can  be  !), 
Who  all  the  while  sits  facing  thee, 
Sees  thee  and  hears 


IN    SAPPHIC    METRE  6? 

Thy  low  sweet  laughs  which  (ah  me !)  daze 
Mine  every  sense,  and  as  I  gaze 
Upon  thee,  Lesbia.  o'er  me  strays 

My  tongue  is  dulled,  my  limbs  adown 
Flows  subtle  flame  ;  with  sound  its  own 
Rings  either  ear,  and  o'er  are  strown 
Mine  eyes  with  night. 


Blest  as  the  immortal  gods  is  he, 
The  youth  who  fondly  sits  by  thee, 
And  hears  and  sees  thee  all  the  while 
Softly  speak  and  sweetly  smile. 

'Twas  this  deprived  my  soul  of  rest, 
And  raised  such  tumults  in  my  breast ; 
For  while  I  gazed,  in  transport  tost, 
My  breath  was  gone,  my  voice  was  lost 

My  bosom  glowed ;  the  subtle  flame 
Ran  quick  through  all  my  vital  frame ; 
O'er  my  dim  eyes  a  darkness  hung; 
My  ears  with  hollow  murmurs  rung. 

In  dewy  damps  my  limbs  were  chilled ; 
My  blood  with  gentle  horror  thrilled ; 
My  feeble  pulse  forgot  to  play  j 
I  tainted,  sank,  and  died  away. 

AMBROSE  PHILIPS,  1711. 


68  SAPPHO 

Thy  fatal  shafts  unerring  move, 
I  bow  before  thine  altar,  Love 
I  feel  thy  soft  resistless  flame 
Glide  swift  through  ail  my  vital  frame. 

For  while  I  gaze  my  bosom  glows, 
My  blood  in  tides  impetuous  flows ; 
Hope,  fear,  and  joy  alternate  roll, 
And  floods  of  transports  whelm  my  soul. 

My  faltering  tongue  attempts  in  vain 
In  soothing  murmurs  to  complain  ; 
My  tongue  some  secret  magic  ties, 
My  murmurs  sink  in  broken  sighs. 

Condemned  to  nurse  eternal  care, 
And  ever  drop  the  silent  tear, 
Unheard  I  mourn,  unknown  I  sigh, 
Unfriended  live,  unpitied  die. 

SMOLLETT,  in  Roderick  Random^  1748. 


Blest  as  the  immortal  gods  is  he, 

The  youth  whose  eyes  may  look  on  thee, 

Whose  ears  thy  tongue's  sweet  melody 

May  still  devour. 

Thou  smilest  too? — sweet  smile,  whose  charm 
Has  struck  my  soul  with  wild  alarm, 
And,  when  I  see  thee,  bids  disarm 

Each  vital  power. 


IN    SAPPHIC    METRE  69 

Speechless  I  gaze :  the  flame  within 
Runs  swift  o'er  all  my  quivering  skin ; 
My  eyeballs  swim ;  with  dizzy  din 

My  brain  reels  round  j 
And  cold  drops  fall ;  and  tremblings  frail 
Seize  every  limb ;  and  grassy  pale 
I  grow ;  and  then — together  fail 

Both  sight  and  sound. 
JOHN  HERMAN  MERIVALE,  1833. 


Peer  of  gods  he  seemeth  to  me,  the  blissful 
Man  who  sits  and  gazes  at  thee  before  him, 
Close  beside  thee  sits,  and  in  silence  hears  thee 

Silverly  speaking, 

Laughing  love's  low  laughter.  Oh  this,  this  only 
Stirs  the  troubled  heart  in  my  breast  to  tremble ! 
For  should  I  but  see  thee  a  little  moment, 

Straight  is  my  voice  hushed ; 
Yea,  my  tongue  is  broken,  and   through  and 

through  me 

'Neath  the  flesh  impalpable  fire  runs  tingling ; 
Nothing  see  mine  eyes,  and  a  noise  of  roaring 

Waves  in  my  ear  sounds ; 
Sweat  runs  down  in  rivers,  a  tremor  seizes 
All  my  limbs,  and  paler  than  grass  in  autumn, 
Caught  by  pains  of  menacing  death,  I  falter, 

Lost  in  the  love-trance. 

J.  ADDINGTON  SYMONDS,  1883. 


7O  SAPPHO 

Compare  Lord  Tennyson : — 

I  watch  thy  grace ;  and  in  its  place 
My  heart  a  charmed  slumber  keeps, 

While  I  muse  upon  thy  face ; 
And  a  languid  fire  creeps 

Through  my  veins  to  all  my  frame, 
Dissolvingly  and  slowly  :  soon 

From  thy  rose-red  lips  my  name 
Floweth ;  and  then,  as  in  a  swoon, 
With  dinning  sound  my  ears  are  rife, 
My  tremulous  tongue  faltereth, 
I  lose  my  colour,  I  lose  my  breath, 
I  drink  the  cup  of  a  costly  death 
Brimmed  with  delicious  draughts  of  warmest 

life. 
I  die  with  my  delight,  before 

I  hear  what  I  would  hear  from  thee. 

Elednore,  1832. 
And— 

Last  night,  when  some  one  spoke  his  name, 
From  my  swift  blood  that  went  and  came 
A  thousand  little  shafts  of  flame 
Were  shiver'd  in  my  narrow  frame. — Fatima.1 

1  When  Fatima.  was  first  published  (1832)  this  motto 
was  prefixed — 

4>a(verai  uoi  KHVOC  taoc  Seotoiv 
"uuev  avHp, 

showing  Tennyson's  acknowledgments  to  Sappho. 


IN    SAPPHIC    METRE  /I 

And  with  line  14,  Swinburne's — 

Paler  than  grass  in  summer. — Sapphics. 

and — 

Made  like  white  summer-coloured  grass. 

Aholibah. 

Longinus,  about  250  A.D.,  uses  this,  The  Ode 
to  Anactoria,  or  To  a  beloved  Woman,  or  To  a 
Maiden,  as  tradition  variously  names  it,  to 
illustrate  the  perfection  of  the  Sublime  in 
poetry,  calling  it  '  not  one  passion,  but  a  con- 
gress of  passions,'  and  showing  how  Sappho 
had  here  seized  upon  the  signs  of  love-frenzy 
and  harmonised  them  into  faultless  phrase. 
Plutarch  had,  about  60  A.D.,  spoken  of  this  ode 
as  '  mixed  with  fire,'  and  quoted  Philoxenus  as 
referring  to  Sappho's  '  sweet-voiced  songs  heal- 
ing love.' 


oe\avvav 
aty  unuKpunroiai  cpdevvov  eI5o<;, 
SimoTa  n\H6oica  naAiora  AUJUTTH 
fav  [firi  iracav] 


The  stars  about  the  fair  moon  in  their  turn 
hide  their  bright  face  when  she  at  about  her  full 
lights  up  all  earth  with  silver. 


72  SAPPHO 

Planets,  that  around  the  beauteous  moon 
Attendant  wait,  cast  into  shade 

Their  ineffectual  lustre,  soon 
As  she,  in  full-orbed  majesty  arrayed, 

Her  silver  radiance  pours 

Upon  this  world  of  ours. 

J.  H.  MERIVALE. 

The  stars  around  the  lovely  moon 
Their  radiant  visage  hide  as  soon 
As  she,  full-orbed,  appears  to  sight, 
Flooding  the  earth  with  her  silvery  light. 

?  FELTON. 

The  stars  about  the  lovely  moon 
Fade  back  and  vanish  very  soon, 
When,  round  and  full,  her  silver  face 
Swims  into  sight,  and  lights  all  space. 

EDWIN  ARNOLD,  1869. 

Stars  that  shine  around  the  refulgent  full  moon 
Pale,  and  hide  their  glory  of  lesser  lustre 
When  she  pours  her  silvery  plenilunar  „ 
Light  on  the  orbed  earth. 

J.  A.  SYMONDS,  1883. 

'  As  the  stars  draw  back  their  shining  faces 
when  they  surround  the  fair  moon  in  her  silver 
fulness.'  F.  T.  PALGRAVE. 


IN    SAPPHIC    METRE  73 

Quoted  by  Eustathius  of  Thessalonica,  late 
in  the  twelfth  century,  to  illustrate  the  simile  in 
the  Iliad,  viii.  551  : — 

As  when  in  heaven  the  stars  about  the  moon 
Look  beautiful.  TENNYSON. 

Julian,  about  350  A.D.,  says  Sappho  applied 
the  epithet  silver  to  the  moon ;  wherefore 
Blomfield  suggested  its  position  here. 


i'  uobcov 

juctAivcov,  aiGuoaojutvwv  5e  <puAAcov 
KO>MO  Kcrrappei 

And  round  about  the  [breeze]  murmurs  cool 
through  apple-boughs,  and  slumber  streams  from 
quivering  leaves. 

Through  orchard-plots  with  fragrance  crowned 
The  clear  cold  fountain  murmuring  flows ; 

And  forest  leaves  with  rustling  sound 
Invite  to  soft  repose. 

J.  H.  MERIVALE. 

All  around  through  branches  of  apple-orchards 
Cool  streams  call,  while  down  from  the  leaves 
a-tremble 

Slumber  distilleth. 

J.  A.  SYMONDS,  1883. 


74  SAPPHO 

Professor  F.  T.  Palgrave  says : — 
'  We  have  three  lines  on  a  garden  scene  full 
of  the  heat  and  sleep  of  the  fortunate  South : — 

'  "  Round  about  the  cool  water  thrills  through 
the  apple-branches,  and  sleep  flows  down  upon 
us  in  the  rustling  leaves." 

'If  there  were  any  authority,'  he  adds  in  a 
note,  '  I  should  like  to  translate  "  through  the 
troughs  of  apple- wood."  That  Eastern  mode  of 
garden  irrigation  gives  a  much  more  denned, 
and  hence  a  more  Sappho-like,  image  than 
"through  the  boughs.'" 

From  the  sound  of  cool  waters  heard  through 
the  green  boughs 

Of  the  fruit-bearing  trees, 
And  the  rustling  breeze, 
Deep  sleep,  as  a  trance,  down  over  me  flows. 
FREDERICK  TENNYSON,  1 890. 

Cited  by  Hermogenes,  about  170  A.D..  as 
an  example  of  simple  style,  and  to  show  the 
pleasure  given  by  description.  The  fragment 
describes  the  gardens  of  the  nymphs,  which 
Demetrius,  about  150  A.D.,  says  were  sung  by 
Sappho.  Cf.  Theocritus,  Idyl  vii.  135:  'High 
above  our  heads  waved  many  a  poplar,  many 
an  elm-tree,  while  close  at  hand  the  sacred 
water  from  the  Nymph's  own  cave  welled  forth 


IN    SAPPHIC    METRE  75 

with  murmurs  musical '  (A.  Lang).     And  Ovid, 
Her oid.,  xv.  157 — 

A  spring  there  is  whose  silver  waters  show,  etc. — 

(cf.  Pope's  translation,  infra,  p.  194)  probably 
refers  to  it. 


Kutrpi 

ev  KuAiKeaaiv  afJpox; 
aujujuemrnevov  eaAiaiai  veiorap 
oivoxoeuaa. 

Come,  goddess  of  Cyprus,  and  in  golden  cups 
serve  nectar  delicately  mixed  with  delights. 

Come,  Venus,  come 
Hither  with  thy  golden  cup, 

Where  nectar-floated  flowerets  swim. 
Fill,  fill  the  goblet  up ; 

These  laughing  lips  shall  kiss  the  brim, — 
Come,  Venus,  come ! 

ANON.  (Edin.  Rev.,  1832). 

Kupris,  hither 

Come,  and  pour  from  goblets  of  gold  the  nectar 
Mixed  for  love's   and   pleasure's  delight  with 
dainty 

Joys  of  the  banquet. 

J.  A.  SYMONDS,  1883. 


76  SAPPHO 

Athenaeus,  a  native  of  Naucratis,  who  flour- 
ished about  230  A.D.,  quotes  these  verses  as 
an  example  of  the  poets'  custom  of  invoking 
Aphrodite  in  their  pledges.  Applying  them  to 
himself  and  his  fellow-guests,  he  adds  the  words 
TOUTOKH  role  ercupou;  CMOIC  re  KOI  ooiq.  Some 
scholars  believe  that  Sappho  actually  wrote  — 


rmobe  TCUC  ejumc  crapmoi  Kai 
For  these  my  companions  and  thine. 

Aphrodite  was  called  Cypris,  '  the  Cyprian,'  be- 
cause it  was  mythologically  believed  that  when 
she  rose  from  the  sea  she  was  first  received  as 
a  goddess  on  the  shore  of  Cyprus  (Homeric 
ffymns,  vi.).  Sappho  seems  to  be  here  figura- 
tively referring  to  the  nectar  of  love. 


"H  oe  Konpoc  xai 

Or  Cyprus  and  Paphos,  or  Panormus  [holds] 
thu. 

If  thee  Cyprus,  or  Paphos,  or  Panormos. 
J.  A.  SYMONDS,  1883. 

From   Strabo,   about    19    A.D.      Panormus 
(Palermo)  in  Sicily  was  not  founded  till  after 


IN    SAPPHIC    METRE  77 

Sappho's  time,  but  it  was  a  common  name,  and 
all  seaports  were  under  the  special  protection 
of  Aphrodite. 


7,8 

Sol  5'  er&>  AeuKaQ  eni  3a>jnov  aIf(K 


rot  ^  w  —  w  —  v- 

But  for  thee  will  I  [lead]  to  /&?  altar  [the  off- 
spring] 0/"  a  white  goat  .  .  .  and  add  a  libation 
for  thee. 

Adduced  by  Apollonius  of  Alexandria, 
about  140  A.D.,  to  illustrate  similarities  in  dia- 
lects. The  fragment  is  probably  part  of  an  ode 
describing  a  sacrifice  offered  to  Aphrodite. 


Ai8'  erc 

rovbe  TOV  naXov 

This  lot  may  I  win,  golden-crowned  Aphrodite . 

From  Apollonius,  to  show  how  adverbs  give 
an  idea  of  prayer. 


78  SAPPHO 


IO 

Ai  ue  Tijuiav  enoHGav 
TO  o<pa  5oioau 

Who  gave  me  their  gifts  and  made  me  honoiired. 

From  Apollonius,  to  illustrate  the  Aeolic  dia- 
lect. Bergk  thinks  this  fragment  had  some 
connection  with  fr.  68,  and  perhaps  with  fr.  32. 
Tt  seems  to  refer  to  the  Muses. 


II 

—  w  —  w  —  Td5e  vuv  e 

TOU;  ejLKuot  repnva  KaAux;  aeiao). 

This  will  I  now  sing  deftly  to  please  my  girl- 
friends. 

Quoted  by  Athenaeus  to  prove  that  freeborn 
women  and  maidens  often  called  their  girl 
associates  and  friends  ermpai  (Hetaerae),  with- 
out any  idea  of  reproach. 


IN    SAPPHIC    METRE  79 


12 

-  v  —  w  —  w  w  "Omvoc  rap 
eu  6eu),  KHVOI  jne  MaAiGTCi  aivvov- 

TCU.       w   w   -    w. 


whom  I  benefit  injure  me  most. 


From  the  Etymologicum  Magm/m,  a  diction- 
ary which  was  compiled  about  the  tenth 
century  A.D. 


13 

—  w  —  w  —  w"Ef^  &e   KHV'  OT- 
TOJ  TH  epcrrcu. 

But  that  which  one  desires  /  .  .  . 

From  Apollonius,  to  illustrate  the  use  of  the 
verb  tpaw.  Bergk  now  reads  eparai  instead  of 
tpfirai  as  formerly,  on  the  analogy  of  &IOKHTUI 
and  OUVOMOI  in  tne  i'ayum  fragments. 


80  SAPPHO 


H 


Talc  K(i\aiq  u/mmv  [TO]  voH^ia  TO>UOV 
OL  6ici)Lieiirrov. 

To  you,  fair  maids,  my  mind  changes  not. 

From  Apollonius,  to  show  the  Aeolic  use  of 
for  UJLUV,  '  to  you.' 


15 

—  w  —  w  —  w"Ercov  6'  t 
TOUTO  ouvoiba. 

And  this  I  feel  in  myself. 
From  Apollonius,  to  show  Aeolic  accentuation. 

16 

TOUCH  [6e]  \j/C)(poq  (uiev  efevro  9u/noc, 
nap  6'  icioi  TO  trrepa.  —  w  —  w 

But  their  heart  turned  cold  and  they  dropt 
their  wings, 

In  Pindar,  Pyth.  i.  10,  the  eagle  of  Zeus, 
delighted  by  music,  drops  his  wings,  and  the 
Scholiast  quotes  this  fragment  to  show  that 
Sappivo  says  the  same  of  doves. 


8i 


—  w  —  w  —  v  KOT9  ijuov 
Tbv  6  eniTTAa^ovreg  ajuoi  <ptpoiev 
Km  ue/\e5cbvaiQ. 

According  to  my  weeping :  it  and  all  cart  let 
buffeting  winds  bear  away. 

Him  the  wanderer  o'er  the  world 
Far  away  the  winds  will  bear, 
And  restless  care. 

FREDERICK  TENNYSON. 

From  the  Etymologicum  Magnum,  to  show 
that  the  Aeolians  used  ?  in  the  place  of  aa. 
Ajuoi  is  a  guess  of  Bergk's  for  avejuoi,  '  winds.' 


18 

'Ap-na>c  u'  a  xpuooTT 
Me  just  now  the  golden-sandalled  Dawn  .  .  . 

Me  but  now  Aurora  the  golden-sandalled. 
J.  A.  SYMONDS,  1883. 

Quoted  by  Ammonius  of  Alexandria,  at  the 
close  of  the  fourth  century  A.D.,  to  show  Sappho's 
use  of  aprioq. 

F 


82  SAPPHO 


19 

w  —  w  w  TTo&ac  64 
(uuioXm;  eKaXuirre,  AO&i- 
ov  KaAov  epfov. 

A  broidered  strap  of  fair  Lydian  work  covered 
her  feet. 

Quoted  by  the  Scholiast  on  Aristophanes' 
Peace,  1174 ;  and  also  by  Pollux,  about  180  A.D. 
Blass  thinks  the  lines  may  have  referred  to  an 
apparition  of  Aphrodite. 


2O 

— -  w  —  w  TTavro&anau; 
va  xpotaiotv. 

Shot  with  a  thousand  hues. 

Quoted  by  the  Scholiast  on  Apollonius  of 
Rhodes,  i.  727,  in  speaking  of  Jason's  double- 
folded  mantle  having  been  reddish  instead  of 
flame-coloured  Some  think,  however,  that 
Sappho  here  refers  to  Iris,  i.e.  the  rainbow. 


IN    SAPPHIC    METRE  83 

21 

....  "EjueSev  b'  tyeiaQa  Ad6av 
Me  thouforgettest. 

From  Apollonius,  as  is  also  the  following,  to 
show  the  Aeolic  use  of  lMe6ev  for  enou,  '  of  me.' 

22 

—  w  —  w  —  ww"H  Tlv'  oAAov 
[juoAAov]  avGpconcov  tjueQev  <piAH00a. 

d?r  lovest  another  more  than  me. 


23 

Ou  TI  M 

Ye  are  nought  to  me. 

Quoted  by  Apollonius,  as  is  also  the  following 
fragment,  to  show  that  ujneu;  was  in  Aeolic 
'you.' 


84  SAPPHO 

24 

AC  GeAer'  Guuec. 
While  ye  will. 

25 

Kai  TTOGHCO  KOI  uao.ucu  w  —  w 
I  yearn  and  seek  .  .  . 

From  the  Etymologicum  Magnum,  to  show 
that  the  Aeolians  used  noetico  for  noeeco, 
'I  yearn.' 


26 

Kelvov,  <5  xPu°o6p°ve  MoCo', 
UMVOV,  eK  rag  KaAAipJvaiKoc  c 
Tmog  x^P0"^  ov  aeibe 
afauoq. 


C?  Muse  of  the  golden  throne,  raise  that  strain 
which  the  reverend  elder  of  Teos,  from  the  goodly 
land  of  fair  women,  used  to  sing  so  sweetly. 


IN    SAPPHIC    METRE  85 

O  Muse,  who  sitt'st  on  golden  throne, 
Full  many  a  hymn  of  dulcet  tone 

The  Teian  sage  is  taught  by  thee ; 
But,  goddess,  from  thy  throne  of  gold, 
The  sweetest  hymn  thou  'st  ever  told 

He  lately  learned  and  sang  for  me. 

T.  MOORE. 


Athenaeus  says  '  Hermesianax  was  mistaken 
when  he  represented  Sappho  and  Anacreon  as 
contemporaries,  for  Anacreon  lived  in  the  time 
of  Cyrus  and  Polycrates  [probably  563-478  B.C.], 
but  Sappho  lived  in  the  reign  of  Alyattes  the 
father  of  Croesus.  But  Chamaeleon,  in  his 
treatise  on  Sappho,  asserts  that  according  to 
some  these  verses  were  made  upon  her  by 
Anacreon : — 


"  Spirit  of  Love,  whose  tresses  shine 
Along  the  breeze  in  golden  twine, 
Come,  within  a  fragrant  cloud 
Blushing  with  light,  thy  votary  shroud, 
And  on  those  wings  that  sparkling  play 
Waft,  oh  waft  me  hence  away ! 
Love,  my  soul  is  full  of  thee, 
Alive  to  all  thy  luxury. 


86  SAPPHO 

But  she,  the  nymph  for  whom  I  glow. 
The  pretty  Lesbian,  mocks  my  woe, 
Smiles  at  the  hoar  and  silvery  hues 
Which  Time  upon  my  forehead  strews. 

Alas,  I  fear  she  keeps  her  charms 
In  store  for  younger,  happier  arms."' 

T.  MOOUE. 


Then  follows  Sappho's  reply,  the  present 
fragment.  'I  myself  think,'  Athenaeus  goes 
on  to  say,  'that  Hermesianax  is  joking  con- 
cerning the  love  of  Anacreon  and  Sappho,  for 
Diphilus  the  comic  poet,  in  his  play  called 
Sappho,  has  represented  Archilochus  and  Hip- 
ponax  as  the  lovers  of  Sappho.' 

Probably  the  whole  is  spurious,  for  certainly 
Sappho  never  saw  Anacreon :  she  must  have 
died  before  he  was  born.  Even  Athenaeus 
says  that  it  is  clear  to  every  one  that  the  verses 
are  not  Sappho's. 


IN    DACTYLIC    METRE  8/ 


27 

ev  OTH6eaiv  opra<; 
rAcboaav 


When  anger  spreads  through  the  breast,  guard 
thy  tongue  from  barking  idly. 

When  through  thy  breast  wild  wrath  doth  spread 

And  work  thy  inmost  being  harm, 
Leave  thou  the  fiery  word  unsaid, 
Guard  thee  ;  be  calm. 

MICHAEL  FIELD,  1889. 

Quoted  by  Plutarch,  in  his  treatise  On 
restraining  anger,  to  show  that  in  wrath  nothing 
is  more  noble  than  quietness.  Blass  thinks 
that  Bergk  is  wrong  in  his  restoration  of  the 
verses;  he  considers  their  metre  choriambic 
(like  fr.  64,  ff.),  and  reads  them  thus  : 

1  *  OKi&vajievag  orneeoiv  oprac  necpuAarMeva  (?) 
rAaxjcav 


He  compares  fr.  72  with  them. 


88  SAPPHO 

III 

IN  ALCAIC  METRE 
28 


Ai  6*  fixec  eoXwv  tjuepov  H  KciAcov, 
KCti  UH  TI  FeiiTHv  fAoiaa'  eia/Ka  KCXKOV, 
aI6co<;  Kt  a'  ou  Ki^avev 
d\\'  eAefec  nepi  TCO 


Hadst  thoufelt  desire  for  things  good  or  noble, 
and  hud  not  thy  tongue  framed  some  evil  speech, 
shame  had  not  filled  thine  eyes,  but  thou  hadst 
spoken  honestly  about  it. 

THE  LOVES  OF  SAPPHO  AND  ALCAEUS. 

Alcaeus.  —  I  fain  would  speak,  I  fain  would  tell, 
But  shame  and  fear  my  utterance 

quell. 
Sappho.  —  If  aught  of  good,  if  aught  of  fair 

Thy  tongue  were  labouring  to  declare, 
Nor  shame  should  dash  thy  glance, 

nor  fear 

Forbid  thy  suit  to  reach  my  ear. 
ANON.  (Edin.  Rev.,  1832,  p.  190). 


IN    ALCAIC    METRE  89 

Aristotle,  in  his  Rhetoric,  i.  9,  about  330  B.C, 
says  'base  things  dishonour  those  who  do  or 
wish  them,  as  Sappho  showed  when  Alcaeus 
said — 

IOTTAOK'  eifva  ueMixopei&e  £011901, 
GtAo)  TI  FeiiTHV,  oAAu  fie  KaUuei  ai'6a>c 

';  Violet-weaving,  pure,  softly-smiling  Sappho,  I 
•would  say  something,  but  shame  restrains  me"' 
(cf.  supra,  p.  8),  and  she  answered  him  in  the 
words  of  the  present  fragment. 

Blass  (Rhein.  Mus.  1879,  xxix.  p.  150) 
believes  that  these  verses  also  are  Sappho's, 
not  Alcaeus'.  Certainly  they  were  quoted  as 
Sappho's  by  Anna  Comnena,  about  1 1 10  A.D., 
as  well  as  by  another  writer  whom  Blass  refers 
to.  Blass  would  read  the  last  line  ncpi  <2>  biKaiux; 
('6iKaicoc)  =  nepi  ou  ebiKcuoug,  about  that  which  thou 
didst  pretend. 

IV 

IN  MIXED  GLYCONIC  AND 
ALCAIC  METRE 

29 

Zja6i  KOVTO  cpiAog  .... 

Kai  rav  erf  osaoic  auneraoov  x«Plv- 

Stand  face  to  face,  friend  .  .  .  and  unveil 
the  grace  in  thine  eyes. 


9O  SAPPHO 

Athenaeus,  speaking  of  the  charm  of  lovers' 
eyes,  says  Sappho  addressed  this  to  a  man  who 
was  admired  above  all  others  for  his  beauty. 
Bergk  thinks  it  may  have  formed  part  of  an 
ode  to  Phaon  (cf.  fr.  140),  or  of  a  bridal  song ; 
and  A.  Schoene  suspects  that  it  was  possibly 
addressed  to  Sappho's  brother.  The  metre  is 
quite  uncertain. 


V 
IN  CHORIAMBIC  METRE 

[This  is  a  very  unsatisfactory  category.  Some  of  the 
fragments,  e.g.  30-43,  are  in  Aeolian  dactyls,  wherein 
the  second  foot  is  always  a  dactyl ;  44-49  are  Glyconics  ; 
50-54  are  in  the  Ionic  a  majors  metre  ;  some  others  are 
Asclepiads,  etc.  But  where  so  much  is  uncertain,  it 
seems  to  be  the  simplest  way  to  group  them  thus.] 

30 

XpUOeOl    6'   €p€plV00l    tTT*    filOVCOV    €9UOVTO. 

And  golden  pulse  grew  on  the  shores. 

Quoted  by  Athenaeus,  when  he  is  speaking 
of  vetches. 


IN    CHORIAMBIC    METRE       91 

31 

Aorro)  KQI  Niopa  MctAa  juev  91X01  HOOV  eraipau 

Leto  and  Niobe  were  friends  full  dear. 

Quoted  by  Athenaeus  for  the  same  reason 
as  fr.  ii.     Compare  also  fr.  143. 

32 

Mvc'iceoQai  Ttvci  cpajat  Kal  uarepov  aujuecov. 
Men  I  think  will  remember  us  even  hereafter. 

Compare  Swinburne's — 

Thou  art  more  than  I, 

Though  my  voice  die  not  till  the  whole  world 
die. 

and — 

Memories  shall  mix  and  metaphors  of  me. 
and — 

I  Sappho  shall  be  one  with  all  these  things, 
With  all  high  things  for  ever. 

Anactoria. 


92  SAPPHO 

Dio  Chrysostom,  the  celebrated  Greek  rhe- 
torician, writing  about  100  A.D.,  observes  that 
Sappho  says  this  '  with  perfect  beauty.' 

To  illustrate  this  use  of  <pam,  Bergk  quotes 
a  fragment  preserved  by  Plutarch,  which  may 
have  been  written  by  Sappho  : 


lOTTAOKCOV 

Moiaav  eu 


/  think  I  ham  a  goodly  portion  in  the  violet 
weaving  Muses. 


33 

Hpduav  uev  era>  oeGev,  "ArSi,  ird\ai  ITOTO. 
I  loved  thee  once,  Atthis,  long  ago. 

I  loved  thee, — hark,  one  tenderer  note  than  all — 
Atthis,  of  old  time,  once — one  low  long  fall, 
Sighing — one  long  low  lovely  loveless  call, 
Dying — one  pause  in  song  so  flamelike  fast — 
A  tikis,  long  since  in  old  time  overpast — 
One  soft  first  pause  and  last. 
One, — then  the  old  rage  of  rapture's  fieriest  rain 
Storms  all  the  music-maddened  night  again. 
SWINBURNE,  Songs  of  the  Springtides,  p.  57. 


IN    CHORIAMBIC    METRE       93 

Quoted  by  Hephaestion,  about  150  A.D.,  as 
an  example  of  metre.  The  verse  stood  at  the 
beginning  of  the  first  ode  of  the  second  book 
of  Sappho's  poems,  which  Hephaestion  says 
was  composed  entirely  of  odes  in  this  metre: 
thus, 


34 


noi  -naiq,  ejujuev  ^aiveo 

A  slight  and  ill-favoured  child  didst  thou  seem 
to  me. 

Quoted  by  Plutarch  ;  and  by  others  also. 

Bergk  thinks  it  is  certain  that  this  fragment 
belongs  to  the  same  poem  as  does  the  pre- 
ceding, judging  from  references  to  it  by 
Terentianus  Maurus,  about  100  A.D.,  and  by 
Marius  Victorinus,  about  350  A.D. 

35 

AAAa,  JHH  nej-a\uveo  baicruAia)  nepu 
Foolish  woman,  pride  not  thyself  on  a  ring. 

Preserved  by  Herodian  the  grammarian, 
who  lived  about  160  A.D. 


94  SAPPHO 

36 

OUK  016'  OTTI  Gear   6u)  juoi  TO  voHjaara. 
/  know  not  what  to  do  ;  my  mind  is  divided. 

Quoted  by  the  Stoic  philosopher  Chrysippus, 
about  220  B.C. 


37 

6*  ct  &OKIJUOIM'  opdvco  6uai 

I  do  not  think  to  touch  the  sky  with  my  two 
arms. 

Quoted  by  Herodian.     Cf.    Horace,   Carm. 
I.  i.  36,  Sublimi  feriam  sidera  vertice^ — 

My  head,  exalted  so,  will  touch  the  stars, 

which  some  think  a  direct  translation  of  this 
line  of  Sappho's. 

Old  Horace  ?  '  I  will  strike,'  said  he, 
'  The  stars  with  head  sublime.' 

TENNYSON,  Tiresias,  1885. 


IN    CHORIAMBIC    METRE       95 

38 

QC  6e  irate  ne&o  uarepa  Treirreptroowai. 
y^m/  I  flutter  like  a  child  after  her  mother. 

Like  a  child  whose  mother 's  lost, 
I  am  fluttering,  terror-tost. 

M.  J.  WALHOUSE. 

After  my  mother  I  flew  like  a  bird. 

FREDERICK  TENNYSON. 

Quoted  in  the  Etymologicum  Magnum  as  an 
example  of  Aeolic.  It  may  have  related  to  a 
sparrow,  and  been  imitated  by  Catullus,  3,  6  ff. : 

Sweet,  all  honey  :  a  bird  that  ever  hailed  her 
Lady  mistress,  as  hails  the  maid  a  mother. 
Nor  would  move  from  her  arms  away :  but  only 
Hopping  round  her,  about  her,  hence  or  hither 
Piped  his  colloquy,  piped  to  none  beside  her. 

ROBINSON  ELLIS. 

39 

*Hpo<;  arreAoc  tjuepocpamx;  aHbcov. 
Spring's  messenger,  the  sweet-voiced  nightingale. 


96  SAPPHO 

The  dear  good  angel  of  the  spring, 
The  nightingale. 

BEN  JONSON,  The  Sad  Shepherd,  Act  ii. 

The  tawny  sweetwinged  thing 
Whose  cry  was  but  of  Spring. 

SWINBURNE,  Songs  of  the  Springtides, 

p.  52. 

Quoted  by  the  Scholiast  on  Sophocles, 
Electra,  149,  '  the  nightingale  is  the  messenger 
of  Zeus,  because  it  is  the  sign  of  Spring.' 


40 

Epoq  boOre  ji'  b  AuaijueAm;  bovei, 
rAuKUTTtKpov  ajiidxavcv  opnerov. 


Now  Love  masters  my  limbs  and  shakes  me, 
fatal  creature,  bitter-sweet. 

Lo,  Love  once  more,  the  limb-dissolving  King, 
The  bitter-sweet  impracticable  thing, 
Wild-beast-like  rends  me  with  fierce  quivering. 

J.  ADDINGTON  SYMONDS,  1883. 


IN    CHORIAMBIC    METRE       97 

Compare — 

O  Love,  Love,  Love  !  O  withering  might ! 
TENNYSON,  Fatima. 

O  bitterness  of  things  too  sweet ! 

SWINBURNE,  Fragoletta. 

Sweet  Love,  that  art  so  bitter. 

SWINBURNE,  Tristram  of  Lyonesse. 

and  the  song  in  Bothwell,  act  i.  sc.  i : — 

Surely  most  bitter  of  all  sweet  things  thou  art, 
And  sweetest  thou  of  all  things  bitter,  love. 

Quoted  by  Hephaestion.     Cf.  fr.  125. 


41 


i,  ool  b'  €jue9tv  jiev  arm 

9pOVTl<5&HV,    €TTt    6'  *  AvbpOJUcbaV    TTOTH. 


But  to  thee,  Atthis,  the  thought  of  me  is  hate- 
ful ;  thouflittest  to  Andromeda. 

Quoted  by  Hephaestion  together  with  fr.  40, 
but  it  seems  to  be  the  beginning  of  a  different 
ode. 

G 


98  SAPPHO 

42 

"EpoQ  6auiJ  rrivafcev  Ijnoi  <ppeva<;, 
avejuoq  KCiT5  opog  bpuoiv  ejuneocov. 

Now  Eros  shakes  my  soul,  a  wind  on  the 
mountain  jailing  on  the  oaks. 

Love  shook  me  like  the  mountain  breeze 
Rushing  down  on  the  forest  trees. 

FREDERICK  TENNYSON. 

Lo,  Love  once  more  my  soul  within  me  rends, 
Like  wind  that  on  the  mountain  oak  descends. 
J.  A.  SYMONDS,  1883. 

Quoted  by  Maximus  Tyrius,  about  1 50  B.C., 
in  speaking  of  Socrates  exciting  Phaedrus  to 
Bacchic  frenzy  when  he  talked  of  love. 

43 

"Ora  ndvvuxoc  ao<pi  Kararpei. 
When  all  night  long  [sleep]  holds  their  [eyes'. 

Quoted  by  Apollonius  to  show  the  Aeolic 
form  of  091.  Bergk  thinks  that  Sappho  may 
have  written — 

OTTTTCIT'  [ucopoq], 
OTO  navvuxoc  ao<pt  Kcrrarpei, 

therefore  I  translate  it  so. 


IN    CHORIAMBIC    METRE       99 


44 

XeipoMctKTpa  be  KQJTOVCOV 
nop(pupa  .... 
KOI  raura  n'ev  a 
enenv'  emu  4>coKaac 
&a>pa  Tijuia  Karrovcov. 


And  purple  napkins  for  thy  lap  .  .  .  (even 
these  wilt  thou  despise)  I  sent  from  Phocaea, 
preaous  gifts  for  thy  lap. 

Quoted  by  Athenaeus  out  of  the  fifth  book 
of  Sappho's  Songs  to  Aphrodite,  to  show  that 
XeipoMOKTpa  were  cloths,  handkerchiefs,  for 
covering  the  head.  But  the  whole  passage  is 
hopelessly  corrupt. 


45 

"Ape  &H  xeAu  Ma  jaoi 
fevoio. 


Come  nmu,  divine  shell,  become  vocal  for  me. 

Quoted  by  Hermogenes  and  Eustathius,  of 
Sappho  apostrophising  her  lyre. 


100  SAPPHO 


46 


KairaAaiq  u 

OJLIIT'  airaAa  6epa. 


And  tender  woven  garlands  round  tender  neck. 
From  Athenaeus. 


47 


Fonder  of  maids  tJian  Gello. 

Quoted  as  a  proverb  by  Zenobius,  about  130 
A.D.  j  said  of  those  who  die  an  untimely  death, 
or  of  those  whose  indulgence  brings  ruin  on 
their  children.  Gello  was  a  maiden  who  died 
in  youth,  whose  ghost,  the  Lesbians  said,  pur- 
sued children  and  carried  them  off. 


IN    CHORIAMBIC    METRE     IOI 

48 

MciAa  bit 


Of  Gorge  full  weary. 

I  am  weary  of  all  thy  words  and  soft  strange 
ways. 

SWINBURNE,  Anactoria. 

Quoted  by  Choeroboscus,  about  the  end  of 
the  sixth  century  A.D.,  to  show  that  the  Aeolic 
genitive  ended  in  -cue.  Maximus  Tyrius  men- 
tions this  girl  Gorgo  along  with  Andromeda 
(cf.  fr.  41)  as  beloved  by  Sappho. 


49 

BpevGeuo 
Of  a  proud  (or  perfumed,  or  flowery)  palace, 

Athenaeus  says  Sappho  here  mentions  the 
'  royal '  and  the  '  brentheian '  unguent  together, 
as  if  they  were  one  and  the  same  thing ;  but 
the  reading  is  very  uncertain. 


102  SAPPHO 


50 

Efco  6'  eiri  na\QaK.av 
anoAeco  jueAea. 


But  I  upon  a  soft  cushion  dispose  my  limbs. 
From  Herodian. 


51 

KH  6'  aMPpooiag  ^ev  Kpamp  eKCKparo, 
'  Epjuug  6'  eAev  oAmv  Oeoiq  oivoxoHaai. 
KHVOI  6'  apa  iravrec  KapxHOid  T*  fi)(ov 
KaAeigov,  apdoavTO  6e  ndjunav  eaAa 
TCO 


And  there  t/ie  bowl  of  ambrosia  was  mixed,  cuid 
Hermes  took  the  ladle  to  pour  out  for  the  gods  , 
and  then  they  all  held  goblets,  and  made  libation, 
and  wished  the  bridegroom  all  good  hick. 

The  first  two  lines  are  quoted  by  Athenaeus 
to  show  that  in  Sappho  Hermes  was  cupbearer 
to  the  gods  ;  and  in  another  place  he  quotes  the 


IN    CHORIAMBIC    METRE     103 

rest  to  illustrate  her  mention  of  carchesia,  cups 
narrow  in  the  middle,  with  handles  reaching 
from  the  top  to  the  bottom.  Lachmann  first 
joined  the  two  fragments.  The  verses  appear 
to  belong  to  the  Epithalamia. 


52 

Ae&uxe  M'EV  a  oeAawa 
Kai  TTAHta&eq,  Mtoai  be 
VUKTCQ,  napa  5'  epx^r'  a>pa, 
tfco  5e  juova 


The  moon  has  set,  and  the  Pleiades  ;  it  is  mid- 
night, the  time  is  going  by,  and  I  sleep  alone. 

The  silver  moon  is  set  ; 

The  Pleiades  are  gone  ; 
Half  the  long  night  is  spent,  and  yet 

I  lie  alone.  J.  H.  MERIVALE. 

The  moon  hath  left  the  sky  ; 

Lost  is  the  Pleiads'  light  ; 

It  is  midnight 
And  time  slips  by  ; 
But  on  my  couch  alone  I  lie. 

J.  A.  SYMONDS,  1883. 

Quoted  by   Hephaestion  as  an   example  of 
metre. 


104  SAPPHO 


53 

juev  V<paiveiJ  a  ceAavva, 
ai  5'  cl)c  nepi  (Joojuov  eoraGHaav. 

The  moon  rose  full,  and  the  women  stood  as 
though  around  an  altar. 

Quoted  by  Hephaestion  as  an  example  of 
Praxilleian  verses,  i.e.  such  as  the  Sicyonian 
poetess  Praxilla  (about  B.C.  450)  wrote  in  the 
metre  known  as  the  Ionic  a  majore  trimeter 
brachycatalectic.  Blass  thinks  that  the  lines  are 
part  of  the  same  poem  as  that  to  which  the 
succeeding  fragment  belongs. 


54 


Kpfloaai  vu  nor3  oo>6'  eMjueXeax  no&eoaiv 
d>pXeGvT>  anaXoic  ajLUp'  epoevra  PCOJUOV 
noaQ  repev  av9oq  juaAaKov  M«Teioai. 

Thus  at  times  with  tender  feet  the  Cretan 
women  dance  in  measure  round  the  fair  altar, 
trampling  the  fine  soft  bloom  of  the  grass. 


IN    CHORIAMBIC    METRE     105 

Mr.  Moreton  J.  Walhouse  thus  combines  the 
previous  fragment  with  this  : — 

Then,  as  the  broad  moon  rose  on  high, 
The  maidens  stood  the  altar  nigh  ; 
And  some  in  graceful  measure 

The  well-loved  spot  danced  round, 
With  lightsome  footsteps  treading 
The  soft  and  grassy  ground. 

Quoted  by  Hephaestion  as  an  example  of 
metre,  vv.  i  and  2  in  one  place  and  v.  3  in 
another ;  Bergk  says  Santen  first  joined  them. 


55 

"Appa  &HUT6  naxiia  cnoAa  a 
Then  delicately  in  thick  robe  I  sprang. 

From  Herodian,  as  an  illustration  of  the 
Aeolic  dialect.  Bergk  attributes  this  to  Sappho, 
but  Cramer  and  others  think  that  Alcaeus  wrote 
the  line. 


106  SAPPHO 


56 

4>aioi  &H  TTOTO  AH&OV  uciKiveivcov 
[On*  av6eoov]  nenuKa6juevov 
eupHV  a>iov. 

Leda  they  say  once  found  an  egg  hidden  under 
hyacinth-blossoms. 

From  the  Etymologicum  Magnum,  Athenaeus, 
and  others.  Bergk  thinks  fr.  112  may  be  con- 
tinuous with  this,  thus  — 


<x>ov    )o> 
TTO\U  \euKorepov  —  w  ^  —  w  — 

since  Athenaeus  quotes  fr.  112  after  fr.  56.  It 
is  uncertain  what  flower  the  Greeks  meant  by 
*  hyacinth  '  ;  it  probably  had  nothing  in  com- 
mon with  our  hyacinth,  and  it  seems  to  have 
comprised  several  flowers,  especially  the  iris, 
gladiolus,  and  larkspur. 


57 

'  0<p6d\Moic  6e  (neAaiQ  VUKTOC;  acopoq. 
And  dark-eyed  Sleep,  child  of  Night. 

From  the  Etymologicum  Magnum,  to  show 
that  the  first  letter  of  acopog  =  a>po<;,  '  sleep,' 
was  redundant. 


IN    CHORIAMBIC    METRE      lO? 


57A 

XpuscxpaH  Gepdmnvav  ' 
Aphrodite's  handmaid  bright  as  gold. 

Philodemus,  about  60  B.C.,  in  a  MS.  dis- 
covered at  Herculaneum,  says  that  Sappho  thus 
addresses'TTeiew,  Persuasion.  The  MS.  is,  how- 
ever, defective,  and  Gomperz,  the  editor,  thinks 
from  the  context  that  Hecate  is  here  referred  to. 
Cf.  frr.  132,  125.  (Bergk  formerly  numbered 
this  fr.  141.) 


58 

"  EXCI  jiev  '  Av6poueSa  KaAav  ajaoipav. 
Andromeda  has  a  fair  requital. 

Quoted  by  Hephaestion  together  with  the 
following,  although  the  lines  are  obviously  out 
of  different  odes.  Probably  each  fragment  is 
the  first  line  of  separate  poems. 


IO8  SAPPHO 

59 

¥011901,  ri  Tav  noAuoApov  '  A9pobrrav ; 
Sappho ',  why  [celebrate]  blissful  Aphrodite  ? 

60 

AeOre  vuv,  tippai  Xdpireg,  KaAAiKOMoi  re  Motoai. 
Come  now,  delicate  Graces  and  fair-haired  Muses. 

Come  hither,  fair-haired  Muses,  tender  Graces, 
Come  hither  to  our  home. 

FREDERICK  TENNYSON. 

Quoted  by  Hephaestion,  Attilius  Fortunati- 
anus  (about  the  fifth  century  A.D.),  and  Servius, 
as  an  example  of  Sappho's  choriambic  tetra- 
meters. 


61 

TTapOevov  abucpoovov. 
A  sweet-voiced  maiden. 
From  Attilius  Fortunatianus. 


IN    CHORIAMBIC    METRE     IO9 


62 

KcrrevaoKei,  KuOepH1,  afJpoc  "AJxovu;,  TI  KC  (teiyev 
KarruTTTeo6e  Kopai  KOI  KarepeiKeaQe  xiravac. 


Delicate  Adonis  is  dying,  Cytherea  ;  what 
shall  we  do  1  Beat  your  breasts,  maidens,  and 
rend  your  tunics. 

Quoted  by  Hephaestion,  and  presumed  to  be 
Sappho's  from  a  passage  in  Pausanias,  where  he 
says  she  learnt  the  name  of  the  mythological 
personage  Oetolinus  (as  if  otroc  Aivou,  '  the  death 
of  Linus'),  from  the  poems  of  Pamphos,  a 
mythical  poet  of  Attica  earlier  than  Homer,  and 
so  to  her  Adonis  was  just  like  Oetolinus.  The 
Linus-song  was  a  very  ancient  dirge  or  lamenta- 
tion, of  which  a  version  (or  rather  a  late  render- 
ing, apparently  Alexandrian)  has  been  preserved 
by  a  Scholiast  on  Homer  (Iliad,  xviii.  569), 
running  thus  :  '  O  Linus,  honoured  by  all  the 
gods,  for  to  thee  first  they  gave  to  sing  a  song 
to  men  in  clear  sweet  sounds  ;  Phoebus  in  envy 
slew  thee,  but  the  Muses  lament  thee.'  A 
charming  example  of  what  the  Linus-song  was 
in  the  third  century  B.C.,  remains  for  us  in 
Bion's  Lament  for  Adonis. 


1 10  SAPPHO 

The  dirge  was  chiefly  sung  by  the  Greek 
peasants  at  vintage-time,  and  so  may  have 
arisen  from  a  mythical  personification  of  Apollo, 
as  the  burning  sun  of  summer  suddenly  slaying 
the  life  and  bloom  of  nature.  It  is  said  to  have 
been  of  Phoenician  origin,  and  to  have  derived 
its  name  from  the  words  ai  le  nu,  '  woe  is  us, ' 
which  may  have  been  the  burden  of  the  song. 
The  word  aftivoo  so  frequent  a  refrain  in  the 
mournful  choral  odes  of  the  Greek  tragic  poets, 
seems  to  indicate  that  the  personality  of  Linus 
was  the  invention  of  a  time  when  the  meaning 
of  the  burden  had  been  forgotten. 


63 

*Q    TOV  "AfctoVlV. 

Ah  for  Adonis  1 

From  Marius  Plotius,  about  600  A.D.  It  seems 
to  be  the  refrain  of  the  ode  to  Adonis.  Cf.  fr. 
1 08. 

Ah  for  Adonis  !     So 
The  virgins  cry  in  woe : 
Ah,  for  the  spring,  the  spring, 
And  all  fleet  blossoming. 

MICHAEL  FIELD,  1889. 


IN    CHORIAMBIC    METRE     III 

'  •-:.  H^lSil! 

'EAOovT*  f£  6p<iv(o  Tiop<pupiav  [exovra]  nepSejucvov 


Coming  from  heaven  wearing  a  purple  mantle. 

From  heaven  he  came, 

And  round  him  the  red  chlamys  burned  like 
flame.  J.  A.  SYMONDS. 

He  came  from  heaven  in  purple  mantle  clad. 
FREDERICK  TENNYSON. 

Quoted  by  Pollux,  about  180  A.D.,  who  says 
that  Sappho,  in  her  ode  to  Eros,  out  of  which 
this  verse  probably  came,  was  the  first  to  use  the 
word  x^auuc,  a  short  mantle  fastened  by  a  brooch 
on  the  right  shoulder,  so  as  to  hang  in  a  curve 
across  the  body. 


65 

Bpo6oTTc'<xe€Q  aj-vai  Xdpire^,  SeCre  Aio<;  Kopai. 
Come,  rosy-armed  pure  Graces,  daughters  of  Zeus. 

Theocritus'  Idyl  28,  On  a  Distaff,  according 
to  the  argument  prefixed  to  it,  was  written  in  the 
dialect  and  metre  of  this  fragment.  And  Philo- 


112  SAPPHO 

stratus,  about  220  A.D.,  says  'Sappho  loves  the 
rose,  and  always  crowns  it  with  some  praise, 
likening  to  it  the  beauty  of  her  maidens ;  she 
likens  it  also  to  the  arms  of  the  Graces,  when 
she  describes  their  elbows  bare.'  Cf.  fr.  146. 


66 

—  w — '0  6' "Apeuq  <palai  KCV  "Acpaiarov  aj-Hv  (Jia. 
But  Ares  says  he  would  drag  Hephaestus  by  force. 
From  Priscian,  late  in  the  fifth  century  A.D. 


67 

—  v  —  v  w ww  —  TToMa  6'  avaDi6jua 

TTOTHpia  KdAaupu;. 

Many  thousand  cups  thou  drainest. 

Quoted  by  Athenaeus  when  descanting  on 
drinking-cups. 


IN    CHORIAMBIC    METRE     113 

68 

KorGavoioa  be  Keioeai  TTOTQ,  KCOU  juvajuooOva  ae0ev 
€oaeij  oure  TOT*  OUT'  u5Tepo»-   ou  rap  nebexeig  ppobcov 
T(iv  EK  TTiepiag,  aA\'  a(pavH<;  KHV  'Atba  bojuoic 
<poiTctoeic  Tte6'  ajuaupcov  VEKUCOV  eKnenoraueva. 

But  thou  shalt  ever  lie  dead,  nor  shall  there  be 
any  remembrance  of  thee  then  or  thereafter,  for 
thou  hast  not  of  the  roses  of  Pieria  ;  but  thott  shalt 
•wander  obscure  even  in  the  house  of  Hades,  flitting 
among  the  shadowy  dead. 

In  the  cold  grave  where  thou  shalt  lie 
All  memory  too  of  thee  shall  die, 
Who  in  this  life's  auspicious  hours 
Disdained  Pieria's  genial  flowers ; 
And  in  the  mansions  of  the  dead, 
With  the  vile  crowd  of  ghosts,  thy  shade 
While  nobler  spirits  point  with  scorn, 
Shall  flit  neglected  and  forlorn. 

?  FELTON.  . 

Unknown,  unheeded,  shalt  thou  die, 
And  no  memorial  shall  proclaim 

That  once  beneath  the  upper  sky 
Thou  hadst  a  being  and  a  name. 

For  never  to  the  Muses'  bowers 

Didst  thou  with  glowing  heart  repair, 

Nor  ever  intertwine  the  flowers 

That  fancy  strews  unnumbered  there. 
H 


114  SAPPHO 

Doom'd  o'er  that  dreary  realm,  alone, 
Shunn'd  by  the  gentler  shades,  to  go, 

Nor  friend  shall  soothe,  nor  parent  own 
The  child  of  sloth,  the  Muses'  foe. 

REV.  R.  BLAND,  1813. 

Thee  too  the  years  shall  cover ;  thou  shall  be 
As  the  rose  born  of  one  same  blood  with  thee, 
As  a  song  sung,  as  a  word  said,  and  fall 
Flower-wise,  and  be  not  any  more  at  all, 
Nor  any  memory  of  thee  anywhere ; 
For  never  Muse  has  bound  above  thine  hair 
The  high  Pierian  flowers  whose  graft  outgrows 
All  Summer  kinship  of  the  mortal  rose 
And  colour  of  deciduous  days,  nor  shed 
Reflex  and  flush  of  heaven  about  thine  head,  etc. 
SWINBURNE,  Anactoria. 

Woman  dead,  lie  there ; 
No  recbrd  of  thee 
Shall  there  ever  be, 
Since  thou  dost  not  share 
Roses  in  Pieria  grown. 
In  the  deathful  cave, 
With  the  feeble  troop 
Of  the  folk  that  droop, 
Lurk  and  flit  and  crave, 
Woman  severed  and  far-flown. 

WILLIAM  CORY,  1858. 


IN    CHORIAMBIC    METRE     115 

Thou  liest  dead,  and  there  will  be  no  memory 

left  behind 
Of  thee  or  thine  in  all  the  earth,  for  never  didst 

thou  bind 
The  roses  of  Pierian  streams  upon  thy  brow ; 

thy  doom 
Is  writ  to  flit  with  unknown  ghosts  in  cold  and 

nameless  gloom. 

EDWIN  ARNOLD,  1869. 

Yea,  thou  shalt  die, 
And  lie 

Dumb  in  the  silent  tomb ; 
Nor  of  thy  name 
Shall  there  be  any  fame 

In  ages  yet  to  be  or  years  to  come : 
For  of  the  flowering  Rose, 
Which  on  Pieria  blows, 

Thou  hast  no  share  : 
But  in  sad  Hades'  house, 
Unknown,  inglorious, 

'Mid  the  dim  shades  that  wander  there 

Shalt  thou  flit  forth  and  haunt  the  filmy  air. 
J.  A.  SYMONDS,  1883. 

When  thou  fallest  in  death,  dead  shalt  thou  lie, 

nor  shall  thy  memory 
Henceforth  ever  again  be  heard  then  or  in  days 

to  be, 


Il6  SAPPHO 

Since  no  flowers  upon  earth  ever  were  thine, 

plucked  from  Pieria's  spring, 
Unknown  also  'mid  hell's  shadowy  throng  thou 

shall  go  wandering. 

ANON.,  Love  in  Idleness,  1883. 

From  Stobaeus,  about  500  A.D.,  as  addressed 
to  an  uneducated  woman.  Plutarch  quotes  the 
fragment  as  written  to  a  certain  rich  lady ;  but 
in  another  work  he  says  the  crown  of  roses  was 
assigned  to  the  Muses,  for  he  remembered 
Sappho's  having  said  to  some  unpolished  and  un- 
educated woman  these  same  words.  Aristldes, 
about  150  A.D.,  speaks  of  Sappho's  boastfully 
saying  to  some  well-to-do  woman,  'that  the 
Muses  made  her  blest  and  worthy  of  honour, 
and  that  she  should  not  die  and  be  forgotten ' ; 
though  this  may  refer  to  fr.  10. 


69 

Ou5'  Tuv  boKiMoiui  npooiboiociv  <puog  uAico 

eoaesGai 

TcmauTav. 


Ou5'  Tuv  boKiMoiui  npooiboiociv  <puog  uAico 
eoaesGai  acxpiav  nupQevov  cig  ou&tva  ira>  xpovov 


No  one  maiden  I  think  shall  at  any  time  see 
the  sunlight  that  shall  be  as  wise  as  thou. 


IN    CHORIAMBIC    METRE     117 

Methinks  no  maiden  ever 
Will  live  beneath  the  sun 

Who  is  as  wise  as  thou  art, — 
Not  e'en  till  Time  is  done. 

Quoted  by  Chrysippus.     It  is  probably  out 
of  the  same  ode  as  the  preceding. 


70 

Tig  6'  arpoiomQ  TOI  6i/\fei  voov, 

OUK  fcmarajueva  ra  3p«Ke'  €\KHV  em  TGOV  acpupeov ; 

What  country  girl  bewitches  thy  heart,  who 
knows  not  how  to  draw  her  dress  about  her  ankles? 

What  country  maiden  charms  thee, 

However  fair  her  face, 
Who  knows  not  how  to  gather 

Her  dress  with  artless  grace  ? 

Athenaeus,  speaking  of  the  care  which  the 
ancients  bestowed  upon  dress,  says  Sappho 
thus  jests  upon  Andromeda.  Three  other 
authors  quote  the  same  lines. 


Il8  SAPPHO 


7i 

"Hpwv  €£e6i5a£'  CK  fudpcov  rav  Tavuaibpojuov. 
1  taught  Hero  of  Gyara,  the  swift  runner. 

Quoted  by  Choeroboscus,  to  show  the 
Aeolic  accusative. 

72 

—  w*A\Adt  TU;  OUK  ejujui  TiaXifKorcov 
opfav,  aAX'  apaKHV  rav  <ppev'  €j(a>  w  — 

/  am  not  of  a  malignant  nature,  but  have  a 
quiet  temper. 

Quoted  in  the  Etymologicum  Magnum  to 
show  the  meaning  of  apctKHc,  'childlike,  in- 
nocent.' 


73 

—  w  Aurap  bpaiai 
But  charming  [maidens]  plaited  garlands. 

Quoted  by  the  Scholiast  on  Aristophanes' 
Thesmophoriazusae  401,  to  show  that  plaiting 
wreaths  was  a  sign  of  being  in  love. 


IN    CHORIAMBIC    METRE        119 


74 

—  w  —  20  TC  KOJLIOC  Oepctncov  "Epo^. 
Thou  and  my  servant  Love. 

Quoted  by  Maximus  Tyrius  to  show  that 
Sappho  agreed  with  Diotima  when  the  latter 
said  to  Socrates  (Plato,  Sympos.,  p.  328)  that 
Love  is  not  the  son,  but  the  attendant  and 
servant,  of  Aphrodite.  Cf.  fr.  132. 


75 


'AAA'  e<ov  <piAo<;  ajUMtv  [aAAo] 

Aeyo^  apvuao  veo)T€pov 
ou  rap  TAaooja'  €700  SUVOIKHV 

vtcp  r'  eoca  fepairepa. 

But  if  thou  lovest  us,  choose  another  and  a 
younger  bed-jellow  ;  for  I  will  not  brook  to  live 
with  tfiee,  old  woman  with  young  man. 

From  Stobaeus'  Anthology^  and  Apostolius. 


120  SAPPHO 


76 

Eujuop«poTepa  MvaaibtKa  rag  airaAag 

Mnasidica  is  more  shapely  than  the  tender 
Gyrinno. 

Quoted  by  Hephaestion  as  an  example  of 
metre  (cf.  p.  24). 


77 

'Aaaporepac  ou&aju'  en*,  w  "pavva,  oe6ev  rii 


Scornfuller  than  thee,  Eranna>  have  I  no- 
where found. 

Quoted  by  Hephaestion  with  the  foregoing. 
The  MSS.  do  not  agree;  perhaps  <S"pctwa  is  an 
adjective,  for  d>  eporeivH,  O  lovely  —  . 


IN    CHORIAMBIC    METRE        121 


78 


Su  5'e  <jre9avoic,  w  AIKO,  nepOeGS'  epdraig  <pogaiaiv, 
opnaKaq  avHTOio  auv'ppaia'  anaAaioi  x^poiv- 
eudv6eaiv  eK  fap  neXeTai  KOI  xapiTOQ  MctKatpav 
HaAAov  TTporepHV  aar€9avci)Toiai  6'  anuarp^ovrai. 

Do  thouy  Dica,  set  garlands  round  thy  lovely 
Siat'r,  twining  shoots  of  dill  together  with  soft 
hands  :  for  those  who  have  fair  flowers  may  best 
stand  first,  even  in  the  favour  of  Goddesses  ; 
who  turn  their  face  away  from  those  who  lack 
garlands. 

Here,  fairest  Rhodope,  recline, 

And  'mid  thy  bright  locks  intertwine, 

With  fingers  soft  as  softest  down, 

The  ever  verdant  parsley  crown. 

The  Gods  are  pleased  with  flowers  that  bloom 

And  leaves  that  shed  divine  perfume, 

But,  if  ungarlanded,  despise 

The  richest  offered  sacrifice. 

J.  H.  MERIVALE. 

But  place  those  garlands  on  thy  lovely  hair, 
Twining  the  tender  sprouts  of  anise  green 
With  skilful  hand  ;  for  offerings  and  flowers 
Are  pleasing  to  the  Gods,  who  hate  all  those 
Who  come  before  them  with  uncrowned  heads. 

C.  D.  YONGE. 


122  SAPPHO 

Of  foliage  and  flowers  love-laden 
Twine  wreaths  for  thy  flowing  hair, 

With  thine  own  soft  fingers,  maiden. 
Weave  garlands  of  parsley  fair ; 

For  flowers  are  sweet,  and  the  Graces 
On  suppliants  wreathed  with  may 

Look  down  from  their  heavenly  places, 
But  turn  from  the  crownless  away. 

J.  A.  SYMONDS,  1883.,, 

Mr.  J.  A.  Symonds  has  also  thus  expanded 
the  lines  into  a  sonnet  (1883) : — 

Bring  summer  flowers,  bring  pansy,  violet, 
Moss-rose  and  sweet-briar  and  blue  colum- 
bine; 

Bring  loveliest  leaves,  rathe  privet,*eglantine, 
Brown  myrtles  with  the  dews  of  morning  wet : 
Twine  thou  a  wreath  upon  thy  brows  to  set ; 
With  thy  soft  hands  the  wayward  tendrils 

twine ; 
Then  place  them,  maiden,  on  those  curls  of 

thine, 
Those  curls  too  fair  for  gems  or  coronet. 

Sweet  is  the  breath  of  blossoms,  and  the  Graces, 
When  suppliants  through  Love's  temple  wend 
their  way, 


MI    CHORIAMBIC    METRE     123 

Look  down  with  smiles  from  their  celestial  places 
On  maidens  wreathed  with  chaplets  of  the 

may; 
But  from  the  crownless  choir  they  hide  their 

faces, 

Nor  heed  them  when  they  sing  nor  when 
they  pray. 

Athenaeus,  quoting  this  fragment,  says  :  — 
'Sappho  gives  a  more  simple  reason  for  our 
wearing  garlands,  speaking  as  follows  ...  in 
which  lines  she  enjoins  all  who  offer  sacrifice 
to  wear  garlands  on  their  headss  as  they  are 
beautiful  things  and  acceptable  to  the  Gods.' 


79 

'Er<*>  oe  <piAHju'  appoouvav,  KOI  juoi  TO  Aajmpov 
cpoq  w  c(?\ia)  KCU  TO  KciAov 


I  love  delicacy,  and  for  me  Love  has  the  sun's 
splendour  and  beauty. 

In  speaking  of  perfumes,  Athenaeus,  quoting 
Clearchus,  says  :  —  '  Sappho,  being  a  thorough 
woman  and  a  poetess  besides,  was  ashamed  to 
separate  honour  from  elegance,  and  speaks 
thus  .  .  .  making  it  evident  to  everybody 
that  the  desire  of  life  that  she  confessed  had 
brilliancy  and  honour  in  it;  and  these  things 
especially  belong  to  virtue.' 


124  SAPPHO 

80 

Kau  |uev  re  ruAav  KaanoXecc. 
And  down  I  set  the  cushion. 
Quoted  by  Herodian,  along  with  fr.  50. 

81 

'0  nAoCTOC  aveu  oeu  r*  opera  'or*  OUK  aoivHC  napotKO$ 
[H  6' e£  aju90Tepcov  Kpaon;  eubai/noviaq  exa.rb  aKpov]. 

Wealth  without  thee,  Worth,  is  no  safe  neigh- 
bour [but  the  mixture  of  both  is  the  height  of 
happiness}, 

Wealth  without  virtue  is  a  dangerous  guest , 
Who  holds  them  mingled  is  supremely  blest. 
J.  H.  MERIVALE. 

From  the  Scholiast  on  Pindar.  The  second 
line  appears  to  be  the  gloss  of  the  commentator, 
though  Blass  believes  it  is  Sappho's. 


IN    VARIOUS    METRES         12$ 

VI 
IN  VARIOUS  METRES 

82 

Aura  6e  <ju  KaAAionou 
And  thou  thyself,  Calliope. 

Quoted  by  Hephaestion  when  he  is  analysing 
a  metre  invented  by  Archilochus. 

83 

Aauoiq  ana\aq  era 


ev 


Sleep  thou  in  the  bosom  of  thy  tender  girl- 
friend. 

From  the  Etymologicum  Magnum.  Blass 
thinks  that  the  proper  place  for  this  fragment 
is  among  the  Epithalamia. 


126  SAPPHO 

84 

AeCpo  &Hure  Molaui,  xpuoiov  \inoioau 
Hither  now,  Muses,  leaving  golden  .  .  . 

Quoted  by  Hephaestion  as  an  example  of  a 
verse  made  of  two  Ithyphallics. 


85 

"E<m  jmoi  KaAa  naiQ,  xpusioiciv  avSejuoiaiv 
ejuupepHV  exoioa  ju6p9av,  KAfiig'  afandra, 
am  ra<;  ef01  °^£  Aubiav  naiaav  oub'  eptwvav. 


/  have  a  fair  daughter  with  a  form  like  a 
golden  flower,  Cleis  the  beloved,  above  whom  1 
[prize]  nor  all  Lydia  nor  lovely  [Lesbos]  .  .  . 

I  have  a  child,  a  lovely  one, 

In  beauty  like  the  golden  sun, 

Or  like  sweet  flowers  of  earliest  bloom  ; 

And  Clai's  is  her  name,  for  whom 

I  Lydia's  treasures,  were  they  mine, 

Would  glad  resign.        J.  H.  MERIVALE. 

A  lovely  little  girl  is  ours, 

Kle'is  the  beloved, 

Kle'is  is  her  name, 

Whose  beauty  is  as  the  golden  flowers. 
FREDERICK  TENNYSON. 


IN  THE  IONIC  A  MINORS  METRE        I2/ 

Quoted  and  elaborately  scanned  by  Hephae- 
stion,  although  Bergk  regards  the  lines  as 
merely  trochaic. 


86 

TToXAa 
TTa>\uavaicn6a  nai6a 

All  joy  to  thee,  daughter  of  Polyanax. 

From   Maximus    Tyrius.      It   seems   to   be 
addressed  to  either  Gorgo  or  Andromeda. 


VII 
IN  THE  IONIC  A  MINORE  METRE 

8? 

Za  6*  eAetaMuv  ovap  KunpOfevH9. 

In  a  dream  I  spake  with  the  daughter  of 
Cyprus. 

I.e.  Aphrodite.     From  Hephaestion. 


128  SAPPHO 

88 

Ti  Me  TTav6ioviq  a>  "  pavva 

Why,  lovely  swallow,  daughter  of  Pandwn, 
[weary]  me  ? 

From  Hephaestion,  who  says  Sappho  wrote 
whole  songs  in  this  metre.  'Q  "pawa  is  Is. 
Vossius'  emendation;  <bptiva  is  the  ordinary 
reading,  which  Hesychius  explains  as  perhaps 
an  epithet  of  the  swallow  'dwelling  under  the 
roof.' 

Ah,  Procne,  wherefore  dost  thou  weary  me  ? 
Thus  flitting  out  and  flitting  in  ... 
Tease  not  the  air  with  this  tumultuous  wing. 
MICHAEL  FIELD,  1889. 

89 

.  .  .  'Auq>i  6'  ufJpciq  AocioiQ  eu  Fe  miKaooev. 
She  wrapped  herself  well  in  delicate  hairy  .  .  . 

From  Pollux,  who  says  the  line  refers  to  fine 
closely-woven  linen. 


IN   THE   IONIC  A  MINORE  METRE      129 


90 

narep,  ourot  buvajuai  KpeKHv  TOV  i<rrov, 
Ti66cp  bdjueica  naiboc  Ppa6ivav  61'  'Acppobrrav. 

Sweet  Mother,  I  cannot  weave  my  web,  broken 
as  I  am  by  longing  for  a  boy,  at  soft  Aphrodite's 
will. 

[As  o'er  her  loom  the  Lesbian  maid 
In  love-sick  languor  hung  her  head, 

Unknowing  where  her  fingers  strayed 
She  weeping  turned  away  and  said — ] 

'Oh,  my  sweet  mother,  'tis  in  vain, 
I  cannot  weave  as  once  I  wove, 
So  wildered  is  my  heart  and  brain 
With  thinking  of  that  youth  I  love. ' 
T.  MOORE,  Evenings  in 
Greece,  p.  18. 

Mother,  I  cannot  mind  my  wheel; 

My  fingers  ache,  my  lips  are  dry  : 
Oh,  if  you  felt  the  pain  I  feel ! 

But  oh,  who  ever  felt  as  I  ? 

W.  S.  LANDOR,  Simonidea,  1807. 

Sweet  mother,  I  can  spin  no  more, 
Nor  ply  the  loom  as  heretofore, 
For  love  of  him. 

FREDERICK  TENNYSON. 
I 


I3O  SAPPHO 

Sweet  mother,  I  the  web 

Can  weave  no  more ; 
Keen  yearning  for  my  love 

Subdues  me  sore, 
And  tender  Aphrodite 

Thrills  my  heart's  core. 

M.  J.  WALHOUSE. 

Cf.   Mrs.  John   Hunter's   '  My  mother  bids 
me  bind  my  hair,'  etc. 

From  Hephaestion,  as  an  example  of  metre. 


VIII 
EPITHALAMIA,  BRIDAL  SONGS 

91 

hyoi  ?>H  TO  ueAa8pov 

'  YUHVOOV 
aeppere  TtKTovrec  avbpeq' 

'  YjuHvaov. 
rdjuPpoc;  epxcroi  isoq  "Apcu'i, 

['  YjuHvaov] 
avbpog  MefdAco  noXu  (ueUwv 

[*  Y.uHvaov]. 

Raise  high  the  roof-beam,  carpenters.  (Hy- 
tnenaeusJ)  Like  Ares  comes  the  bridegroom, 
(ffymenaeus  /)  taller  far  than  a  tall  man. 
( ffymenaeus  /) 


EPITHALAMIA,    BRIDAL    SONGS     1$! 

Artists,  raise  the  rafters  high ! 

Ample  scope  and  stately  plan — 
Mars-like  comes  the  bridegroom  nigh, 

Loftier  than  a  lofty  man. 
ANON.,  Edinb,  Rev.^  1832,  p.  109. 

High  lift  the  beams  of  the  chamber, 

Workmen,  on  high; 

Like  Are's  in  step  comes  the  Bridegroom , 
Like  him  of  the  song  of  Terpander, 

Like  him  in  majesty, 

F.  T.  PALGRAVE,  1854. 

Quoted  by  Hephaestion  as  an  example  of  a 
mes-hymnic  poem,  where  the  refrain  follows 
each  line.  The  hymenaeus  or  wedding-song 
was  sung  by  the  bride's  attendants  as  they  led 
her  to  the  bridegroom's  house,  addressing 
Hymen  the  god  of  marriage.  The  metre 
seems,  says  Professor  Mahaffy  (Hist,  of  Class. 
Greek  Z*Y.,  i.,  p.  20,  1880),  to  be  the  same  as 
that  of  the  Linus  song;  cf.  fr.  62. 


92 

,  ox;  or'  aoiooq  6  AesBioq  aAAo&cmoiaiv. 


Tmvering,  as  the  Lesbian  singer  towers  among 
men  of  other  lands. 


132  SAPPHO 

Quoted  by  Demetrius,  about  150  A.D.  It  is 
uncertain  what  'Lesbian  singer'  is  here  re- 
ferred to;  probably  Terpander,  but  Neue 
thinks  it  may  mean  the  whole  Lesbian  race, 
from  their  pre-eminence  in  poetry. 


93 

Oiov  TO  rAuKUMaAov  €peii6€Tcu  otKpw  eir*  u 
QKpov  en*  aKporoiTtp-   AeAdeovro  be. 
ou  MOV  tKAeAdeovr',  aAA'  OUK  ebuvavr' 


As  the  sweet-apple  blushes  on  the  end  of  the 
bough,  the  very  end  of  the  bough,  which  the 
gatherers  overlooked,  nay  overlooked  not  but 
could  not  reach. 

—  O  fair  —  O  sweet  ! 

As  the  sweet  apple  blooms  high  on  the  bough, 
High  as  the  highest,  forgot  of  the  gatherers  : 

So  thou  :  — 

Yet  not  so  :  nor  forgot  of  the  gatherers  ; 
High  o'er  their  reach  in  the  golden  air, 

—  O  sweet  —  O  fair  ! 

F.  T.  PALGRAVE,  1854. 

Quoted  by  the  Scholiast  on  Hermogenes, 
and  by  others,  to  explain  the  word  fAuKUMaAov, 
'sweet-apple,'  an  apple  grafted  on  a  quince; 


EPITHALAMIA,    BRIDAL    SONGS      133 

it  is  used  as  a  term  of  endearment  by  Theo- 
critus (Idyl  xi.  39),  'Of  thee,  my  love,  my 
sweet-apple,  I  sing.'  Himerius,  writing  about 
360  A.D.,  says  :  '  Aphrodite's  orgies  we  leave  to 
Sappho  of  Lesbos,  to  sing  to  the  lyre  and  make 
the  bride-chamber  her  theme.  She  enters  the 
chamber  after  the  games,  makes  the  room, 
spreads  Homer's  bed,  assembles  the  maidens, 
leads  them  into  the  apartment  with  Aphrodite 
in  the  Graces'  car  and  a  band  of  Loves  for 
playmates.  Binding  her  tresses  with  hyacinth, 
except  what  is  parted  to  fringe  her  forehead, 
she  lets  the  rest  wave  to  the  wind  if  it  chance 
to  strike  them.  Their  wings  and  curls  she 
decks  with  gold,  and  drives  them  in  procession 
before  the  car  as  they  shake  the  torch  on  high.' 
And  particularly  this :  '  It  was  for  Sappho  to 
liken  the  maiden  to  an  apple,  allowing  to  those 
who  would  pluck  before  the  time  to  touch  not 
even  with  the  finger-tip,  but  to  him  who  was  to 
gather  the  apple  in  season  to  watch  its  ripe 
beauty;  to  compare  the  bridegroom  with 
Achilles,  to  match  the  youth's  deeds  with  the 
hero's.'  Further  on  he  says:  'Come  then,  we 
will  lead  him  into  the  bride-chamber  and 
persuade  him  to  meet  the  beauty  of  the  bride. 
O  fair  and  lovely,  the  Lesbian's  praises  appertain 
to  thee :  thy  play-mates  are  rosy-ankled  Graces 
and  golden  Aphrodite,  and  the  Seasons  make 


134  SAPPHO 

the    meadows     bloom.'       These    last   words 
especially  — 


O  fair,  O  lovely  .  .  . 

seem  taken  out  of  one  of  Sappho's  hymeneal 
odes,  although  they  also  occur  in  Theocritus, 
Idyl  xviii.  38. 


94 

Oiav  rav  uaKiv0ov  ev  oupeoi  noijuevec 
noaai  KaTacrrei3oioi, 


As  on  the  hills  the  shepherds  trample  the 
hyacinth  under  foot,  and  the  flower  darkens  on 
the  ground. 

Compare  Catullus,  xi.  21-24:  — 

Think  not  henceforth,  thou,  to  recall  Catullus' 
Love  ;  thy  own  sin  slew  it,  as  on  the  meadow's 
Verge  declines,  un-gently  beneath  the  plough- 

share 
Stricken,  a  flower.      (ROBINSON  ELLIS.) 


EPITHALAMIA,    BRIDAL    SONGS      I$5 
And  Vergil,  Aeneid,  ix.  43 5, of  Euryalus  dying: — 

And  like  the  purple  flower  the  plough  cuts  down 
He  droops  and  dies. 

Pines  she  like  to  the  hyacinth  out  on  the  path 

by  the  hill  top ; 
Shepherds  tread  it  aside,  and  its  purples  lie 

lost  on  the  herbage. 

EDWIN  ARNOLD,  1869. 

ONE  GIRL. 
(A  combination  from  Sappho.) 

i. 
Like  the  sweet  apple  which  reddens  upon  the 

topmost  bough, 
A-top  on  the  topmost  twig, — which  the  pluckers 

forgot,  somehow, — 

Forgot  it  not,  nay,  but  got  it  not,  for  none 
could  get  it  till  now. 

n. 

Like  the  wild  hyacinth  flower  which  on  the 

hills  is  found, 
Which  the  passing  feet  of  the  shepherds  for 

ever  tear  and  wound, 
Until  the  purple  blossom  is  trodden  into  the 

ground. 

D.  G.  ROSSETTI,  1870  : 


1 36  SAPPHO 

in  1881  he  altered  the  title  to  Beauty.     (A 
combination  from  Sappho.) 

Quoted  by  Demetrius,  as  an  example  of  the 
ornament  and  beauty  proper  to  a  concluding 
sentence.  Bergk  first  attributed  the  lines  to 
Sappho. 


95 

ftorrepe,  ndvra  9epa>v,  oca  9aivoAig  eaKe&aa'  auwq, 
olv,  <pepec  aifa,  9epeiq  ami  Marepi  naifca. 


Evening,  thou  that  bringest  all  that  bright 
morning  scattered;  thou  bringest  the  sheep,  the 
goat,  the  child  back  to  her  mother. 

Thus  imitated  by  Byron  :  — 

O  Hesperus,  thou  bringest  all  good  things  — 
Home  to  the  weary,  to  the  hungry  cheer, 

To  the  young  bird  the  parent's  brooding  wings, 
The  welcome  stall  to  the  o'erlaboured  steer  ; 

Whate'er  of  peace  about  our  hearthstone  clings, 
Whate'er  our  household  gods  protect  of  dear, 

Are  gathered  round  us  by  thy  look  of  rest  ; 

Thou  bring'st  the  child  too  to  its  mother's  breast. 
Don  Juan,  iii.  107. 


EPITHALAMIA,    BRIDAL    SONGS      137 
And  by  Tennyson : — 

The  ancient  poetess  singeth,  that  Hesperus  all 

things  bringeth, 
Smoothing   the  wearied  mind :  bring  me  my 

love,  Rosalind. 
Thou  comest   morning  or  even;  she   cometh 

not  morning  or  evening. 
False-eyed  Hesper,  unkind,  where  is  my  sweet 

Rosalind  ? 

Leonine  Elegiacs,  1830-1884. 

Hesperus  brings  all  things  back 
Which  the  daylight  made  us  lack, 
Brings  the  sheep  and  goats  to  rest, 
Brings  the  baby  to  the  breast. 

EDWIN  ARNOLD,  1869. 

Hesper,  thou  bringest  back  again 
All  that  the  gaudy  daybeams  part, 

The  sheep,  the  goat,  back  to  their  pen, 
The  child  home  to  his  mother's  heart. 
FREDERICK  TENNYSON,  1890. 

Evening,  all  things  thou  bringest 

Which  dawn  spread  apart  from  each  other ; 
The  lamb  and  the  kid  thou  bringest, 

Thou  bringest  the  boy  to  his  mother. 

J.  A.  SYMONDS,  1883. 


138  SAPPHO 

Hesper,  whom  the  poet  call'd  the  Bringer 

home  of  all  good  things. — TENNYSON, 
Locksley  Hall  Sixty  Years  After,  1886. 


From  the  Etymologicum  Magnum,  where  it 
is  adduced  to  show  the  meaning  of  aucoq, '  dawn.' 
The  fragment  occurs  also  in  Demetrius,  as  an 
example  of  Sappho's  grace.  One  cannot  but 
believe  that  Catullus  had  in  his  mind  some 
such  hymeneal  ode  of  Sappho's  as  that  in 
which  this  fragment  must  have  occurred  when 
he  wrote  his  Vesper  adest,  juvenes,  consurgite : 
Vesper  Ofympo,  etc.  (Ixii.),  part  of  which  was 
imitated  in  the  colloquy  between  Opinion  and 
Truth  in  Ben  Jonson's  The  Barriers. 


96 

'AindpSevoc  eoaojuai. 
/  shall  be  ever  maiden. 

From    a   Parisian    MS.   edited    by  Cramer, 
adduced  to  show  the  Aeolic  form  of  6ei,  ;  ever.' 


EPITHALAMIA,    BRIDAL    SONGS      139 


97 


HOI  narnp. 
We  will  give,  says  the  father  .  ,  . 
From  a  Parisian  MS.  edited  by  Cramer. 

98 

0upd)pcp  nobei;  eirroporu  101, 
ra  5e  octupaAct  rreune36Ha, 
*  e£enovaaav. 


To  the  doorkeeper  feet  seven  fathoms  long,  and 
sandals  of  five  bulls'  hides,  the  work  of  ten 
cobblers. 

From  Hephaestion,  as  an  example  of  metre. 
Demetrius  says  :  '  And  elsewhere  Sappho  girds 
at  the  rustic  bridegroom  and  the  doorkeeper 
ready  for  the  wedding,  in  prosaic  rather  than 
poetic  phrase,  as  if  she  were  reasoning  rather 
than  singing,  using  words  out  of  harmony  with 
dance  and  song.' 


140  SAPPHO 


99 

"OAf5i€  raja3p€,ooi  /nev  b»  raMoq,  cbg  apao, 
eKTcreAeor',  CXHQ  oe  ndp0evov,  av  apao. 

Happy  bridegroom,  now  is  thy  wedding  come 
to  thy  desire,  and  thou  hast  the  maiden  of  thy 
desire, 

Happy  bridegroom,  thou  art  blest 
With  blisses  far  beyond  the  rest, 

For  thou  hast  won 

The  chosen  one, 
The  girl  thou  lovest  best. 

FREDERICK  TENNYSON. 

Quoted  by  Hephaestion,  along  with  the 
following,  to  exemplify  metres ;  both  fragments 
seem  to  belong  to  the  same  ode. 


IOO 

6'  CTT'  ijuipTcp  KJXUTCU  npooonrcp. 


And  a  soft  [paleness]   is  spread  over   the 
lovely  face. 

In  the  National   Library  of  Madrid   there 
is  a  MS.  of  an  epithalamium  by  Choricius,  a 


EPITHALAMIA,    BRIDAL    SONGS      141 

rhetorician  of  Gaza,  who  flourished  about  520 
A.D.,  in  which  the  lamented  Ch.  Graux  (Revue 
de  Philologie,  1880,  p.  81)  found  a  quotation 
from  Sappho  which  is  partly  identical  with  this 
fragment  preserved  by  Hephaestion.  H.  Weil 
thus  attempts  ro  restore  the  passage  :  — 

Sol  x°piev  MCV  et5o<;,  onncrra  6'  —  w  —  3 
',  epoc  6'  en'  ij 

TTpOatOTTCp' 

a'  ' 


Well  favoured  is  thy  form,  and  thine  eyes  .  .  . 
honeyed,  and  love  is  spread  over  thy  fair  face  .  .  . 
Aphrodite  has  honoured  thee  above  all. 

Two  apparent  imitations  by  Catullus  are 
quoted  by  Weil  to  confirm  his  restoration  of 
Sappho's  verses;  viz.,  mellitos  oculos,  honeyed 
eyes  (48,  i),  and  pulcher  es,  neque  te  Venus 
negligit,  fair  thou  art,  nor  does  Venus  neglect 
thee  (61,  194). 


101 

*0  Mtv  rap  KaAoc,  oooov  I&HV,  neAerai 
6  be  Kara9oQ  OUTIKQ    Kal  Ka\oq  ieaoerai. 

He  who  is  fair  to  look  upon  is  [good],  and  he 
who  is  good  will  soon  be  fair  also. 


142  SAPPHO 

Beauty,  fair  flower,  upon  the  surface  lies  ; 
But  worth  with  beauty  e'en  in  aspect  vies. 

?  FELTON. 

Galen,  the  physician,  writing  about  160  A.D., 
says :  '  It  is  better  therefore,  knowing  that  the 
beauty  of  youth  is  like  Spring  flowers,  its 
pleasure  lasting  but  a  little  while,  to  approve  of 
what  the  Lesbian  [here]  says,  and  to  believe 
Solon  when  he  points  out  the  same.' 


I O2 

*Hp'  en  napeeviag  eTTi3aAAojuai ; 
Do  I  still  long  for  maidenhood? 

Quoted  by  Apollonius,  and  by  the  Scholiast 
on  Dionysius  of  Thrace,  to  illustrate  the  inter- 
rogative particle  Spa,  Aeolic  fipa,  and  as  an 
example  of  the  catalectic  iambic. 

103 

Xoipoioo  vuiu<pa,  xaiprro)  6>  6  fduPpoq. 

The  bride  [comes]  rejoicing;  let  the  bride- 
groom rejoice. 

From  Hephaestion.  as  a  catalectic  iambic. 


EPITHALAMIA,    BRIDAL    SONGS      143 


104 


Tup  o',  <o  <piAe  ra 

ppa&ivcp  ce  KoAiar*  ei'K«a6a>. 


Whereimto  may  I  well  liken  thee,  dear  bride- 
groom ?     To  a  soft  shoot  may  I  best  liken  thee. 

From  Hephaestion,  as  an  example  of  metre. 


105 

.  .  .  Xaipe,  vuj 

,  rime  fduppe,  no\Aa. 


Hail,  bnde  J  noble  bridegroom,  all  hail! 

Quoted  by  Servius,  about  390  A.D.,  on 
Vergil,  Georg.  i.  31  ;  also  referred  to  by  Pollux 
and  Julian. 


144  SAPPHO 

1  06 

Ou  rap  HV  arepa  naiQ,  a>  raMPpe,  TOiaura. 


For  there  was  no  other  girl,  O  bridegroom, 
like  her. 

From  Dionysius  of  Halicarnassus. 


107,   1  08 

'  Eoner'  *  YJUHVQOV. 
*Q  TOV  '  Abcoviov. 

Sing  Hymenaeus! 
Ah  for  Adonis! 

From  Plotius,  about  the  fifth  or  sixth  century 
A.D.,  to  show  the  metre  of  Sappho's  hymeneal 
odes.  The  text  is  corrupt;  the  first  verse  is 
thus  emended  by  Bergk,  the  second  by  Scaliger. 
Cf.  fr.  63. 


EPITHALAMIA,    BRIDAL    SONGS      145 


109 

A.  TTapGevia,  nap8evia,  noi  Me  Ainoia' 

B.  OUK€TI    H£O>    TTpb<;    0€,    OUKtTl    H£O). 

A.  Maidenhood,  maidenJwod,  -whither  art  thou 

gone  away  from  me  ? 

B.  Never  again  will  I  come  to  thee,  never  again. 

'  Sweet  Rose  of  May,  sweet  Rose  of  May, 
Whither,  ah  whither  fled  away  ? ' 
'  What 's  gone  no  time  can  e'er  restore — 
I  come  no  more,  I  come  no  more.' 

J.  H.  MERIVALE. 

From  Demetrius,  who  quoted  the  fragment 
to  show  the  grace  of  Sappho's  style  and  the 
beauty  of  repetition.  f 


no 

"AAAav  MH  KCiMEOTepav  <ppeva. 
Fool,  faint  not  thou  in  thy  strong  heart. 

From  a  very  corrupt  passage  in  Herodian. 
The  translation  is  from  Bergk's  former  emenda- 
tion— 

"AAAa  MH  KOM€  TU  areptav  ^peva. 
K 


146  SAPPHO 

III 

4>aiverai  Foi 
To  himself  he  seems  .  .  . 

From  Apollonius,  to  show  that  the  Aeolians 
used  the  digamma,  f.  Bergk  says  this  frag- 
ment does  not  belong  to  fr.  2. 

112 

*Qto>  noAu  AeuKorepov. 
Much  whiter  than  an  egg. 
'•'  From  Athenaeus;  cf.  frs.  56  and  122. 


MKT*  euoi  MeAi  MHTC  (ue 
Neither  honey  nor  bee  for  me. 

A  proverb  quoted  by  many  late  authors, 
referring  to  those  who  wish  for  good  unmixed 
with  evil.  They  seem  to  be  the  words  of  the 
bride.  This,  and  the  second  line  of  fr.  62,  and 


EPITHALAMIA,    BRIDAL    SONGS      147 

many  other  verses,  show  Sappho's  fondness  for 
alliteration ;  frs.  4  and  5,  among  several  others, 
show  that  she  did  not  ignore  the  charm  of 
assonance. 


114 

MH  KIVH  xtpa5ot<;. 
Stir  not  the  shingle. 

Quoted  by  the  Scholiast  on  Apollonius 
Rhodius  to  show  that  xepa&eq  were  'little  heaps 
of  stones.' 


Thou  burnest  us. 

Compare  Swinburne's  — 
My  life  is  bitter  with  thy  love  ;  thine  eyes 
Blind  me,  thy  tresses  burn  me,  thy  sharp  sighs 
Divide  my  flesh  and  spirit  with  soft  sound,  etc. 

Anactoria. 

Quoted  by  Apollonius  to  show  the  Aeolic 
form  of  Hjiac,  'us.' 


148  SAPPHO 


116 

*Hjjirru3iov  oroXaooov. 
A  napkin  dripping, 

From  the  Scholiast  on  Aristophanes'  P/utus, 
quoted  to  show  the  meaning  of  HMirCptov,  'a 
half  worn  out  shred  of  linen  with  which  to  wipe 
the  hands.' 


117  * 

Tbv  Fov  TTuiba  KaXet. 

She  called  him  her  son. 

Quoted  by  Apollonius  to  show  the  Aeolic 
use  of  the  digamma. 


EPIGRAMS  149 

IX 

EPIGRAMS 

All  three  are  preserved  only  in  the  Greek 
Anthology.  The  authenticity  of  the  last,  fr. 
120,  is  doubtful.  To  none  of  them  does  Bergk 
restore  the  form  of  the  Aeolic  dialect. 

118 

TTai&eq,  5<pa)voq  <oioa  rob'  evvtmo,  at  TIC 
<pcovav  aKajuaTOv  KctT6ew4va  irpb  nobaiv 

Aieonia  ue  Kopa  AcrroCc  aveSHKev  '  Apiara 
'  EpuOKAeibaia  TO>  Saova'ia&a,    . 

oa  nponoAoq,  6eanoiva  fuvaiKaiv   a  ou 
€UK/\eioov 


Maidens,  dumb  as  1  am,  I  speak  thus,  if  any 
ask,  and  set  before  your  feet  a  tireless  voice:  To 
Letds  daughter  Aethopia  was  I  dedicated  by 
Arista  daughter  of  Hermodeides  son  of  Saon- 
diades,  thy  servant,  O  queen  of  women;  whom 
bkss  thou,  and  deign  to  glorify  our  house. 


I5O  SAPPHO 

ON  A  PRIESTESS  OF  DIANA. 

Does  any  ask  ?  I  answer  from  the  dead  ; 
A  voice  that  lives  is  graven  o'er  my  head : 
To  dark-eyed  Dian,  ere  my  days  begun, 
Aristo  vowed  me,  wife  of  Saon's  son  : 
Then  hear  thy  priestess,  hear,  O  virgin  Power, 
And  thy  best  gifts  on  Saon's  lineage  shower. 

R. 

The  goddess  here  invoked  as  the  '  queen  of 
women'  appears  to  have  been  ArtSmis,  the 
Diana  of  the  Romans. 


119 

Tijua&oq  66e  KOVIC,  TOV  &H  npb  roMoio  eavouaav 

6t£ctTO  ^epaecpovac  Kudveog  BaAajuux;, 
Sg  KOI  &TT099i]utvac  naaai  veo0ari 

IjLiepTav  Kparbc  eSevro  KOMOV. 


This  is  the  dust  of  Timas,  whom  Persephone  s 
dark  chamber  received  >  dead  before  her  wedding; 
when  she  perished,  all  her  fellows  dressed  with 
sharpened  steel  the  lovely  tresses  of  their  heads. 


EPIGRAMS  151 

This  dust  was  Timas' ;  ere  her  bridal  hour 
She  lies  in  Proserpina's  gloomy  bower; 
Her  virgin  playmates  from  each  lovely  head 
Cut  with  sharp  steel  their  locks,  their  strewments 
for  the  dead. 

SIR  CHARLES  A.  ELTON. 

This  is  the  dust  of  Timas,  whom  unwed 
Persephone  locked  in  her  darksome  bed : 
For  her  the  maids  who  were  her  fellows  shore 
Their  curls,  and  to  her  tomb  this  tribute  bore. 

J.  A.  SYMONDS. 


I2O 

TcJ>  rpinet  TTeAcirwvi  natHp  eneQHKe 
Kupiov  Kal  Kcunav 


Over  the  fisherman  Pelagon  his  father  Meniscus 
set  weel  and  oar,  memorial  of  a  luckless  life. 

ON  A  FISHERMAN. 

This  oar  and  net  and  fisher's  wickered  snare 
Meniscus  placed  above  his  buried  son — 

Memorials  of  the  lot  in  life  he  bare, 
The  hard  and  needy  life  of  Pelagon. 

SIR  CHARLES  A.  ELTON. 


152  SAPPHO 

Here,  to  the  fisher  Pelagon,  his  sire  Meniscus 

laid 
A  wicker-net  and  oar,  to  show  his  weary  life  and 

trade.  LORD  NEAVES. 

Above  a  fisher's  tomb 
Were  set  his  withy-basket  and  his  oar, 

The  tokens  of  his  doom, 
Of  how  in  life  his  labour  had  been  sore : 
A  father  put  them  up  above  his  son, 
Meniscus  over  luckless  Pelagon. 

MICHAEL  FIELD,  1889. 

Bergk  sees  no  reason  to  accept  the  voice  of 
tradition  in  attributing  this  epigram  to  Sappho. 


X 

MISCELLANEOUS 

121 

Athenaeus  says : — 

'It  is  something  natural  that  people  who 
fancy  themselves  beautiful  and  elegant  should 
be  fond  of  flowers ;  on  which  account  the 
companions  of  Persephone  are  represented  as 
gathering  flowers.  And  Sappho  says  she  saw — 

av9e'  aneprouaav  naib'  afav  diroAav, 
'  A  maiden  full  tender  plucking  flowers. ' 


MISCELLANEOUS  153 

122,   123 

TToAu  noKTiboc  abu/neAecrrepa,  xpuaa>  ypvaorkpa. 

Far  sweeter  of  tone  than  harp,  more  golden  than 
gold. 

Quoted  by  Demetrius  as  an  example  of  hyper- 
bolic phrase.  A  commentator  on  Hermogenes 
the  rhetorician  says:  'These  things  basely 
flatter  the  ear,  like  the  erotic  phrases  which 
Anacreon  and  Sappho  use,  rdAaicroc  AeuKortpa 
whiter  than  milk,  u&aroc  anaAampa  fresher  than 
water,  TTHKTI&OOV  cuMeAearipa  more  musical  than 
the  harp,  timou  rauporepa  more  skittish  than  a 
horse,  pobcov  agporepa  more  delicate  than  the  rose, 
iucrriou  eavou  MaActKcorepa  softer  than  a  fine  robe, 
XpuooC  Tiuuampa  more  precious  than  gold' 

124 

Demetrius  says : — 

'  Wherefore  also  Sappho  is  eloquent  and  sweet 
when  she  sings  of  Beauty,  and  of  Love  and  Spring 
and  the  Kingfisher ;  and  every  beautiful  expres- 
sion is  woven  into  her  poetry,  besides  what  she 
herself  invented.' 


154  SAPPHO 


125 

Maximus  Tyrius  says : — 

'Diotima  says  that  Love  flourishes  in  pro- 
sperity, but  dies  in  adversity ;  a  sentiment  which 
Sappho  comprehends  when  she  calls  Love  rAuia- 
niKpog  bitter-sweet  [cf.  fr.  40]  and  oAreoi6a>po<; 
giver  of  pain.  Socrates  calls  Love  the  wizard, 
Sappho  juueonAoKoc  thejveaver  of  fictions? 


126 

To  yt\Hjun  TOUJUOV. 

My  darling. 

Quoted  by  Julian,  and  by  Theodorus  Hyrta- 
cenus  in  the  twelfth  century  A.D.,  as  of  'the 
wise  Sappho.'  Bergk  says  Sappho  would  have 
written  TO  jueAHna  a>juov  in  her  own  dialect. 


MISCELLANEOUS  155 


127 

Aristides  says : — 

'Tc  ravog  the  brightness  standing  over  the 
whole  city,  ou  &iaq>6eipov  TCH;  ov|/ei<;  not  destroying 
the  sight,  as  Sappho  says,  but  developing  at  once 
and  crowning  and  watering  with  cheerfulness ; 
in  no  way  uaKiveivco  av6ei  onoiov  like  a  hyacinth- 
flower,  but  such  as  earth  and  sun  never  yet 
showed  to  men.' 


128 

Pollux  writes : — 

'Anacreon  .  .  .  says  they  are  crowned 
also  with  dill,  as  both  Sappho  [cf.  fr.  78]  and 
Alcaeus  say ;  though  these  also  say  acAivou;  with 
parsley.' 


I$6  SAPPHO 


129 

Philostratus  says : — 

'Thus  contend  [the  maidens]  po&onHxeu:  K<M 
'AiKd>m&ec  Koi  Ka/vAmapHOi  Kai  u^upwvoi  with  rosy 
arms  and  glancing  eyes  and  fair  cheeks  and 
honeyed  voices — this  indeed  is  Sappho's  sweet 
salutation.' 

And  Aristaenetus : — 

'Before  the  porch  the  most  musical  and 
M€iAixo9(ovoi  soft-voiced  of  the  maidens  sang  the 
hymeneal  song ;  this  indeed  is  Sappho's  sweet- 
est utterance.' 

Antipater  of  Sidon,  Anthol.  Pal.  ix.  66,  and 
others,  call  Sappho  sweet-voiced. 


130 

Libanius  the  rhetorician,  about  the  fourth 
century  A.D.,  says : — 

'If  therefore  nought  prevented  Sappho  the 
Lesbian  from  praying  VUKTO  QUTH  reveoeai  birrAaaiav 
that  the  night  might  be  doubled  for  her,  let  me 
also  ask  for  something  similar.  Time,  father  of 


MISCELLANEOUS  157 

year  and  months,  stretch  out  this  very  year  for 
us  as  far  as  may  be,  as,  when  Herakles  was  born, 
thou  didst  prolong  the  night.' 

Bergk  thinks  that  Sappho  probably  prayed  for 
VUKTCJ  rpiTiAaoiav  a  night  thrice  as  long  as  an  ordi- 
nary night,  in  reference  to  the  myth  of  Jupiter 
and  Alcmene,  the  mother  of  Hercules. 


Strabo  says : — 

'  A  hundred  furlongs  further  (from  Elaea,  a 
city  in  Aeolis)  is  Cane",  the  promontory  opposite 
to  Lectum,  and  forming  the  Gulf  of  Adramyttium, 
of  which  the  Elaitic  Gulf  is  a  part.  Canae  is  a 
small  city  of  the  Locrians  of  Cynus,  over  against 
the  most  southerly  extremity  of  Lesbos,  situated 
in  the  Canaean  territory,  which  extends  to  Argi- 
nusae  and  the  overhanging  cliff  which  some  call 
Aega,  as  if  "a  goat,"  but  the  second  syllable 
should  be  pronounced  long,  Aega,  like  OKTO  and 
apxa,  for  this  was  the  name  of  the  whole  moun- 
tain which  at  present  is  called  Cand  or  Canae 
.  .  .  and  the  promontory  itself  seems  after- 
wards to  have  been  called  Aega,  as  Sappho  says, 
the  rest  Cane  or  Canae.' 


158  SAPPHO 

132 

The  Scholiast  on  Apollonius  Rhodius  says  : — 

'  Apollonius  calls  Love  the  son  of  Aphrodite, 
Sappho  of  Earth  and  Heaven? 

But  the  Argument  prefixed  to  Theocritus,  Idyl 
xiii.,  says : — 

*  Sappho  called  Love  the  child  of  Aphrodite 
and  Heaven? 

And  Pausanias,  about  180  A.D.,  says : — 

'On  Love  Sappho  the  Lesbian  sang  many 
things  which  do  not  agree  with  one  another.' 
Cf.  fr.  74. 

133 

Himerius  says : — 

'Thou  art,  I  think,  an  evening-star,  of  all 
stars  the  fairest :  this  is  Sappho's  song  to 
Hesperus.'  And  again  :  c  Now  thou  didst  ap- 
pear like  that  fairest  of  all  stars ;  for  the 
Athenians  call  thee  Hesperus.' 

Bergk  thinks  Sappho's  line  ran  thus  : — 
Aarepcov  ndvrcov  6  KaAicrroc  .  .  • 
Of  all  stars  the  fairest. 


MISCELLANEOUS  159 

Elsewhere  Himerius  refers  to  what  seems  an 
imitation  of  Sappho,  and  says  :  '  If  an  ode  had 
been  wanted,  I  should  have  given  him  such  an 
ode  as  this — 


o&€tov    epa>T(ov   ppuouoa,    Nuu<pa 
afoAua  KctAMarov,  i9i  npbc   euvAv,  t9i  npbq 
AiXa  nai^ouaa,    rAuKeia  vuucpicp-    "Ecmepoq   a*  eKoOoav 
Cj-ot,  aprupoepovov  ?uriav "  Hpav  6aujLto{ouaav.' 


Bride  teeming  with  rosy  loves,  bride,  fairest 
image  of  the  goddess  of  Paphos,  go  to  the  couch,  go 
to  the  bed,  softly  sporting,  sweet  to  the  bridegroom. 
May  Hesperus  lead  thee  rejoicing,  honouring  Hera 
of  the  silver  throne,  goddess  of  marriage. 


Bride,  in  whose  breast  haunt  rosy  loves  ! 
Bride,  fairest  of  the  Paphian  groves  ! 
Hence,  to  thy  marriage  rise,  and  go  ! 
Hence,  to  thy  bed,  where  thou  shall  show 
With  honeyed  play  thy  wedded  charms, 
Thy  sweetness  in  the  bridegroom's  arms ! 
Let  Hesper  lead  thee  forth,  a  wife, 
Willing  and  worshipping  for  life, 
The  silver-throned,  the  wedlock  dame, 
Queen  Hera,  wanton  without  shame ! 

J.  A.  SYMONDS,  1883, 


160  SAPPHO 

134 

The  Scholiast  on  Apollonius  Rhodius  says  : — 

'The  story  of  the  love  of  Selene  is  told  by 
Sappho,  and  by  Nicander  in  the  second  book  of 
his  Europa ;  and  it  is  said  that  Selene  came  to 
Endymion  in  the  same  cave '  (on  Mount  Latmus 
in  Caria). 

135 

The  Scholiast  on  Hesiod,  Op.  et  D.,  74, 
says : — 

'Sappho  calls  Persuasion  'A9pobiTHc  euj-orepa 
Daughter  of  Aphrodite.'  Cf.  fr.  141. 

136 

Maximus  Tyrius  says  : — 

'  Socrates  blames  Xanthippe  for  lamenting  his 
death,  as  Sappho  blames  her  daughter — 

Oi)  fop  6ejuu;  ev  juouaonoAcov  oiiua  Bpnvuv  etvar 
OUK  ajujui  npenei  rate. 

For  lamentation  may  not  be  in  a  poet's  house  : 
such  things  befit  not  us.' 

In  the  home  of  the  Muses  'tis  bootless  to  mourn. 
FREDERICK  TENNYSON. 


MISCELLANEOUS  l6l 

137 

Aristotle,  in  his  Rhetoric,  ii.  23,  writes  :  — 

H  oocnrep  Sampoo,  on  TO  anoQvHSKeiv  KQKOV  oi  6eot 
fop  ouTai  KeKpiKaaiv  aTTe6vHOKOv  fap  av. 

Gregory,  commenting  on  Hermogenes,  also 
quotes  the  same  saying  :  — 

otov  <pn<3iv  H  Zan9<b,  on  TO  airoOvnoKeiv  KOKOV  oi 
6eoi  fap  OUTCO  KeKpiKaaiv  aneSvHGKOv  fap  av,  eirrep  HV 
KO\OV  TO 


Several  attempts  have  been  made  to  restore 
these  words  to  a  metrical  form,  and  this  of 
Hartung's  appears  to  be  the  simplest  :  — 

To  GvuoKetv  KOKOV   OUTCO  KGKpiKaai  6eor 
e0vacsKOv  fop  av  einep  KaAov  HV  robe. 

Death  is  evil  ;  the  Gods  have  so  judged  :  had 
it  been  good,  they  would  die. 

The  preceding  fragment  (136)  seems  to  have 
formed  part  of  the  same  ode  as  the  present. 
Perhaps  it  was  this  ode,  which  Sappho  sent  to 
her  daughter  forbidding  her  to  lament  her 
mother's  death,  that  Solon  is  said  to  have  so 
highly  praised.  The  story  is  quoted  from  Aelian 
L 


162  SAPPHO 

by  Stobaeus  thus:  'Solon  the  Athenian  [who 
died  about  558  B.C.],  son  of  Execestides,  on  his 
nephew's  singing  an  ode  of  Sappho's  over  their 
wine,  was  pleased  with  it,  and  bade  the  boy  teach 
it  him ;  and  when  some  one  asked  why  he 
took  the  trouble,  he  said,  Tva  juaecbv  aurb  awoeavcj, 
'  That  I  may  not  die  before  I  have  learned  it' 


138 

Athenaeus  says : — 

'Naucratis  has  produced  some  celebrated 
courtesans  of  exceeding  beauty  ;  as  Doricha, 
who  was  beloved  by  Charaxus,  brother  of  the 
beautiful  Sappho,  when  he  went  to  Naucratis  on 
business,  and  whom  she  accuses  in  her  poetry  of 
having  robbed  him  of  much.  Herodotus  calls 
her  Rhodopis,  not  knowing  that  Rhodopis  was 
different  from  the  Doricha  who  dedicated  the 
famous  spits  at  Delphi.' 

Herodotus,  about  440  B.C.,  said : — 

'  Rhodopis  came  to  Egypt  with  Xanthes  of 
Samos  ;  and  having  come  to  make  money,  she 
was  ransomed  for  a  large  sum  by  Charaxus  of 
Mitylene,  son  of  Scamandronymus  and  brother 


MISCELLANEOUS  163 

of  Sappho  the  poetess.  Thus  Rhodopis  was 
made  free,  and  continued  in  Egypt,  and  being 
very  lovely  acquired  great  riches  for  a  Rhodopis, 
though  no  way  sufficient  to  erect  such  a  pyramid 
[as  Mycerlnus']  with.  For  as  any  one  who  wishes 
may  to  this  day  see  the  tenth  of  her  wealth,  there 
is  no  need  to  attribute  any  great  wealth  to  her. 
For  Rhodopis  was  desirous  of  leaving  a  monu- 
ment to  herself  in  Greece,  and  having  had  such 
a  work  made  as  no  one  ever  yet  devised  and 
dedicated  in  a  temple,  to  offer  it  at  Delphi  as  a 
memorial  of  herself :  having  therefore  made  from 
the  tenth  of  her  wealth  a  great  number  of  iron 
spits  for  roasting  oxen,  as  far  as  the  tenth  allowed, 
she  sent  them  to  Delphi ;  and  they  are  still  piled 
up  behind  the  altar  which  the  Chians  dedicated, 
and  opposite  the  temple  itself.  The  courtesans 
of  Naucratis  are  generally  very  lovely :  for  in  the 
first  place  this  one,  of  whom  this  account  is  given, 
became  so  famous  that  all  the  Greeks  became 
familiar  with  the  name  Rhodopis ;  and  in  the 
next  place,  after  her  another  whose  name  was 
Archidice  became  celebrated  throughout  Greece, 
though  less  talked  about  than  the  former.  As 
for  Charaxus,  after  ransoming  Rhodopis  he 
returned  to  Mitylene,  where  Sappho  ridiculed 
him  bitterly  in  an  ode.' 


1 64  SAPPHO 

And  Strabo : — 

'  It  is  said  that  the  tomb  of  the  courtesan  was 
erected  by  her  lovers :  Sappho  the  lyric  poet  calls 
her  Doricha.  She  was  beloved  by  Sappho's 
brother  Charaxus,  who  traded  to  the  port  of 
Naucratis  with  Lesbian  wine.  Others  call  her 
Rhodopis.' 

And  another  writer  (Appendix  Prov.t  iv.  51) 

says  : — 

'  The  beautiful  courtesan  Rhodopis,  whom 
Sappho  and  Herodotus  commemorate,  was  of 
Naucratis  in  Egypt.' 


139 

Athenaeus  says  : — 

'  The  beautiful  Sappho  in  several  places  cele- 
brates her  brother,  Larichus,  as  cup-bearer  to 
the  Mitylenaeans  in  the  town-hall.' 

The  Scholiast  on  the  Iliad,  xx.  234,  says : — 
'  It  was  the  custom,  as  Sappho  also  says,  for 
well-born  and  beautiful  youths  to  pour  out  wine. 

Cf.  fr.  5. 


MISCELLANEOUS  165 


I4O 

Palaephatus,  probably  an  Alexandrian  Greek, 
says  :•— 

'  Phaon  gained  his  livelihood  by  a  boat  and 
the  sea ;  the  sea  was  crossed  by  a  ferry ;  and  no 
complaint  was  made  by  any  one,  since  he  was 
just,  and  only  took  from  those  who  had  means. 
He  was  a  wonder  among  the  Lesbians  for  his 
character.  The  goddess — they  call  Aphrodite 
"the  goddess" — commends  the  man,  and  having 
put  on  the  appearance  of  a  woman  now  grown 
old,  asks  Phaon  about  sailing ;  he  was  swift  to 
wait  on  her  and  carry  her  across  and  demand 
nothing.  What  thereupon  does  the  goddess  do  ? 
They  say  she  transformed  the  man  and  restored 
him  to  youth  and  beauty.  This  is  that  Phaon, 
her  love  for  whom  Sappho  several  tknes  made 
into  a  song.' 

The  story  is  repeated  by  many  writers.  Cf. 
fr.  29. 


HI 

[Fr.  141  now  appears  as  fr.  57  A, 


166  SAPPHO 


142 

Pausanias  says : — 

'Yet  that  gold  does  not  contract  rust  the 
Lesbian  poetess  is  a  witness,  and  gold  itself 
shows  it.' 

And  the  Scholiast  on  Pindar,  Pyth.^  iv.  407  : — 

'  But  gold  is  indestructible ;  and  so  says 
Sappho, 

AIOQ  note  b  xpuooc,  Keivov  ol  OHQ  ou&?  KIQ  bdnrei, 
Gold  is  son  ot  Zeus,  no  moth  nor  worm  devours  it? 
Sappho's  own  phrase  is  lost. 


Aulus  Gellius,  about  160  A.D.,  writes: — 

'Homer  says  Niobe  had  six  sons  and  six 
daughters,  Euripides  seven  of  each,  Sappho  nine, 
Bacchylides  and  Pindar  ten.' 

Cf.  fr.  31,  the  only  line  extant  from  the  ode 
here  referred  to. 


MISCELLANEOUS  l6/ 


144 

Servius,  commenting  on  Vergil,  Aeneid,  vi.  21, 
says : — 

'  Some  would  have  it  believed  that  Theseus 
rescued  along  with  himself  seven  boys  and  seven 
maidens,  as  Plato  says  in  his  Phaedo,  and  Sappho 
in  her  lyrics,  and  Bacchylides  in  his  dithyrambics, 
and  Euripides  in  his  Hercules? 

No  such  passage  from  Sappho  has  been  pre- 
served. 


145 

Servius,  commenting  on  Vergil,  Eclog.,  vi.  42, 
says : — 

'Prometheus,  son  of  lapetus  and  Clymene, 
after  he  had  created  man,  is  said  to  have 
ascended  to  heaven  by  help  of  Minerva,  and 
having  applied  a  small  torch  [or  perhaps  '  wand '] 
to  the  sun's  wheel,  he  stole  fire  and  showed  it  to 
men.  The  Gods  being  angered  hereby  sent  two 
evils  upon  the  earth,  fevers  and  disease  [the  text 
is  here  obviously  corrupt ;  it  ought  to  be '  women 
and  disease '  or  '  fevers  and  women '],  as  Sappho 
and  Hesiod  tell.' 


168  SAPPHO 


146 

Philostratus  says : — 

'  Sappho  loves  the  Rose,  and  always  crowns 
it  with  some  praise,  likening  beautiful  maidens 
to  it.' 

This  remark  seems  to  have  led  some  of  the 
earlier  collectors  of  Sappho's  fragments  to 
include  the  '  pleasing  song  in  commendation  of 
the  Rose '  quoted  by  Achilles  Tatius  in  his  love- 
story  Clitophon  and  Leurippe,  but  there  is  no 
reason  to  attribute  it  to  Sappho.  Mrs.  E.  B. 
Browning  thus  translated  it : — 

SONG  OF  THE  ROSE. 

If  Zeus  chose  us  a  king  of  the  flowers  in  his 

mirth, 
He  would  call  to  the  Rose  and  would  royally 

crown  it, 
For  the  Rose,  ho,  the  Rose,  is  the  grace  of  the 

earth, 

Is  the  light  of  the  plants  that  are  growing 
upon  it. 


MISCELLANEOUS  169 

For  the  Rose,  ho,  the  Rose,  is  the  eye  of  the 

flowers, 

Is  the  blush  of  the  meadows  that  feel  them- 
selves fair — 
Is  the  lightning  of  beauty  that  strikes  through 

the  bowers 
On  pale  lovers  who  sit  in  the  glow  unaware. 

Ho,  the  Rose  breathes  of  love !     Ho,  the  Rose 

lifts  the  cup 

To  the  red  lips  of  Cypris  invoked  for  a  guest ! 
Ho,  the  Rose,  having  curled  its  sweet  leaves  for 

the  world, 

Takes  delight  in  the  motion  its  petals  keep  up, 
As  they  laugh  to  the  wind  as  it  laughs  from  the 
west ! 

And  Mr.  J.  A.  Symonds  (1883) : — 

THE  PRAISE  OF  ROSES. 

If  Zeus  had  willed  it  so 

That  o'er  the  flowers  one  flower  should  reign 

a  queen, 
I  know,  ah  well  I  know 

The  rose,  the  rose,  that  royal  flower  had  been  ! 
She  is  of  earth  the  gem, 
Of  flowers  the  diadem ; 
And  with  her  flush 
The  meadows  blush  r 


1 70  SAPPHO 

Nay,  she  is  beauty's  self  that  brightens 

In  Summer,  when  the  warm  air  lightens  ! 

Her  breath 's  the  breath  of  Love, 

Wherewith  he  lures  the  dove 

Of  the  fair  Cyprian  queen ; 

Her  petals  are  a  screen 

Of  pink  and  quivering  green, 

For  Cupid  when  he  sleeps, 

Or  for  mild  Zephyrus,  who  laughs  and  weeps. 

'  Sappho  loves  flowers  with  a  personal  sym- 
pathy,' writes  Professor  F.  T.  Palgrave.  "  Cretan 
girls,"  she  says,  "  with  their  soft  feet  dancing  lay 
flat  the  tender  bloom  of  the  grass  "  [fr.  54] :  she 
feels  for  the  hyacinth  "  which  shepherds  on  the 
mountain  tread  under  foot,  and  the  purple 
flower  is  on  the  ground  "  [fr.  94]  :  she  pities  the 
wood-doves  (apparently)  as  their  "life  grows 
cold  and  their  wings  fall"  before  the  archer' 
[fr.  1 6]. 


147 

Himerius  says : — 

'  These  gifts  of  yours  must  now  be  likened  to 
those  of  the  leader  of  the  Muses  himself,  as 
Sappho  and  Pindar,  in  an  ode,  adorn  him  with 


MISCELLANEOUS  I/I 

golden  hair  and  lyres,  and  attend  him  with  a 
team  of  swans  to  Helicon  while  he  dances  with 
Muses  and  Graces ;  or  as  poets  inspired  by  the 
Muses  crown  the  Bacchanal  (for  thus  the  lyre 
calls  him,  meaning  Dionysos),  when  Spring  has 
just  flashed  out  for  the  first  time,  with  Spring 
flowers  and  ivy-clusters,  and  lead  him,  now  to 
the  topmost  heights  of  Caucasus  and  vales  of 
Lydia,  now  to  the  cliffs  of  Parnassus  and  the 
rock  of  Delphi,  while  he  leaps  and  gives  his 
female  followers  the  note  for  the  Evian  tune.' 


148 

Eustathius  says  :  — 

1  There  is,  we  see,  a  vagabond  friendship,  as 
Sappho  would  say,  KOAOV  SHMOSIOV,  a.  public 
blessing! 

This  appears  to  have  been  said  against  Rho- 
dopis.  Cf.  fr.  138. 

149 

The  Lexicon  Seguerianum  defines  —  • 

one  who  has  no  experience  of  ill,  notr 


one  who  is  good-natured.     So  Sappho  uses  the 
word.' 


172  SAPPHO 


150 

The  Etymologicum  Magnum  defines  — 


a  vine  trained  on  long  poles,  and 
says  Sappho  makes  the  plural  ajiauo£u6e<:.  So 
Choeroboscus,  late  in  the  sixth  century  A.D., 
says  '  the  occurrence  of  the  genitive  ajuaua£C&o<; 
[the  usual  form  being  aMand£uo<;]  in  Sappho  is 
strange.' 


The  Etymologicum  Magnum  says  of 
a  trench  for  watering  meadows ,  '  because  it  is 
raised  by  a  water-bucket,  QUH  being  a  mason's 
instrument ' — that  it  is  a  word  Sappho  seems  to 
have  used ;  and  Orion,  about  the  fifth  century 
A.D.,  also  explains  the  word  similarly,  and  says 
Sappho  used  it. 


MISCELLANEOUS  173 


152 

Apollonius  says : — 

'  And  in  this  way  metaplasms  of  words  [i.e., 
tenses  or  cases  formed  from  non-existent  presents 
or  nominatives]  arise,  like  epuaapjuarec  [chariot- 
drawing],  AITO  [cloths],  and  in  Sappho  TO  aua, 
Dawn.' 

And  the  Etymologicum  Magnum  says  : — 

'  We  find  napa  THV  auav  [during  the  morning] 
in  Aeolic,  for  "during  the  day."' 


153 

The  Etymologicum  Magnum  says  : — 

'  AUOM;  or  H<OQ,  that  is,  the  day  ;  thus  we  read 
in  Aeolic.     Sappho  has — 

noTvia  auoog, 
Queen  Dawn? 

The  solemn  Dawn. 

FREDERICK  TENNYSON. 


174  SAPPHO 


154 

Athenaeus  says  :  — 
The   pupcojuioc   \baromos\  and   capgiroc   \sar- 


b1tos\  both  of  which  are  mentioned  by  Sappho 
andAnacreon,and  theMagadis  and  the  Triangles 
and  the  Sambucae,  are  all  ancient  instruments.' 

Athenaeus  in  another  place,  apparently  more 
correctly,  gives  the  name  of  the  first  as  pdpMog 
\barmos\. 

What  these  instruments  precisely  were  is  un- 
known. Cf.  p.  46. 


155 

Pollux  says  :  — 

'  Sappho  used  the  word  peuboq  for  a  woman's 


dress,  a  kimberfron,  a  kind  of  short  transparent 
frock.' 


MISCELLANEOUS  175 


156 

Phrynichus  the  grammarian,  about  180  A.D., 
says: — 

'  Sappho  calls  a  woman's  dressing-case,  where 
she  keeps  her  scents  and  such  things,  ppC™.' 


157 

Hesychius,   about   370   A.D.,    says    Sappho 
called  Zeus"EKTu)p,  Hector,  i.e.  '  holding  fast' 


158 

A  Parisian  MS.  edited  by  Cramer  says : — 

'  Among  the  Aeolians  ?  is  used  for  6,  as  when 
Sappho  says  $dp<rrov  for  hctfcrrov,  fordable? 


176  SAPPHO 


159 

A  Scholiast  on  Homer  quotes  ararowv,  may 
I  lead ^  from  Sappho. 


1 60 

Eustathius,  commenting  on  the  Iliad,  quotes 
the  grammarian  Aristophanes  [about  260  B.C.] 
as  saying  that  Sappho  calls  a  wind  that  is  as 
if  twisted  up  and  descending,  a  cyclone,  avtjuov 
KorrdpH,  a  wind  rushing  from  above. 

Nauck  would  restore  the  epithet  to  verse  2  of 
fr.  42. 


161 

Choeroboscus  says : — 

'Sappho   makes   the    accusative    of 
danger  nivbuv.' 

Another  writer,  in  the  Codex  Marc.,  says  : — 
'  Sappho  makes  the  accusative  Kiv 


MISCELLANEOUS  177 


l62 

Joannes  Alexandrinus,  about  the  seventh 
century  A.D.,  says  : — 

'The  acute  accent  falls  either  on  the  last 
syllable  or  the  last  but  one  or  the  last  but  two, 
but  never  on  the  last  but  three ;  the  accent  of 
MAbeia  \_Medeia  the  sorceress,  wife  of  Jason]  in 
Sappho  is  allowed  by  supposing  the  ei  to  form 
a  diphthong.' 


163 

An  unknown  author,  in  Antiatticista,  says  \ 

'Sappho,  in  her  second   book,   calls 
myrrh 


164 

A  treatise  on  grammar  edited  by  Cramer 
says  :  — 

'The  genitive  plural  of  MoCoa  is  Mcooacov 
among  the  Laconians,  MOIGOKOV  of  the  Muses 
in  Sappho.' 

M 


178  SAPPHO 

165 

Phrynichus  says  :  — 

Nirpuv  natron  (carbonate  of  soda)  is  the  form 
1  an  Aeolian  would  use,  such  as  Sappho,  with  a 
v;  but,'  he  goes  on,  'an  Athenian  would  speli 
it  with  a  A,  Airpov.' 

166 

A  Scholiast  on  Homer,  Iliad^  Hi.  219,  says:  — 

'  Sappho  said  m>\ut6pibi  of  much  knowledge  as 
the  dative  of 


167 

Photius,   in   his   Lexicon,   about    the  ninth 
century  A.D.,  says  :  — 

1  6dvyoc  is  a  wood  with  which  they  dye  wool 
and  hair  yellow,   which  Sappho  calls 
&AQV  Scythian  wocd. 


MISCELLANEOUS  179 

And  the  Scholiast  on  Theocritus,  Idyl  ii.  88, 
says  :  — 

'  0avi/oc  is  a  kind  of  wood  which  is  also  called 
oKueuptov  or  Scythian  wood,  as  Sappho  says  ; 
and  in  this  they  dip  fleeces  and  make  them  of  a 
quince-yellow,  and  dye  their  hair  yellow  ;  among 
us  it  is  called  xpuooSuAov  gold-wood' 

Ahrens  thinks  that  here  the  Scholiast  quoted 
Sappho,  and  he  thus  restores  the  verses  :  — 


-  w  -  ZKU01KOV 

TCJJ  fJdirroiai  re  THpia 
noteiai  be  naAiva 
£av9io5oiai  re  rag 


Scythian  wood,  in  which  they  dip  fleeces  and 
make,  them  quince-coloured,  and  dye  their  hair 
vellow. 

Thapsus  may  have  been  box-wood,  but  it  is 
quite  uncertain. 


168 

The  Etymologicum  Magnum  says : — 

'The   Aeolians   say   Tioioiv   090d\uotaiv  with 

what  eyes  .  .  .  [using  rioioi  for  TIGI,  the  dative 

plural  of  TIQ]  as  Sappho  does.' 


ISO  SAPPHO 


169 

Orion  of  Thebes,  the  grammarian,  about  450 
A.D.,  says : — 

'  In  Sappho  x6*"™  is  xeA"VH  a  tortoise ' ; 
which  is  better  written  xeAuva,  or  rather  yi\wa, 
as  other  writers  imply. 


170 

Pollux  says : — 

{ Bowls  with  a  boss  in  the  middle  are  called 
3a\avei6u9aAoi,  circular-bottomed,  from  their 
shape,  xP00^?0^01)  gold-bottomed,  from  the 
material,  like  Sappho's  xPuoa<3Tpara^oi.  with 
golden  ankles? 

Some  few  other  fragments  are  attributed  to 
Sappho,  but  Bergk  admits  none  as  genuine. 
Above  is  to  be  seen  every  word  which  he  con- 
sidered hers.  An  account  of  some  which  have 
recently  been  brought  to  light  is  given  on  the 
succeeding  pages. 


1  82  SAPPHO 

ancient  manuscripts  have  to  contend.  Few,  at 
the  first  glance,  would  guess  how  much  could 
be  made  out  of  so  little. 

The  letters  on  each  side  of  the  parchment  are 
clearly  written,  punctuated,  and  accented.  They 
appear  to  belong  to  the  eighth  century  A.D.,  so 
that  the  writing  is  at  least  a  thousand  years  old. 
The  actual  letters  are  these,  those  which  are  not 
decipherable  with  certainty  being  marked  off  by 
brackets  :  — 

(A.)  6<ooHv  (B.)  6e6ujuou 

UTcavuevr*  en  Mindjunctv 

u/\cov  KaoXtov   (o  buvanai 

•  AOIQ.       AUTTHC    T€    U 
5     JU:    OVeibOQ  5     aOK€VH/LlOl 

oi5Haai(;.     em  T  (a  q)  avriAaMTTHv 

ia(v)aaaio.     TO  fap  Aovrrpoaaiirov 

u)  OVOUK'  OUTO)  (ju 


10  M  (Hb  10  ...  (po^ 

The  two  fragments,  distinguished  by  Blass  as  A. 
and  B.,  occur,  the  one  on  the  front,  the  other  on 
the  back  of  the  scrap  of  parchment.  They  were 
edited  by  Bergk,  in  the  fourth  (posthumous) 
edition  of  his  Poetae  Lyrici  Gracci,  1882,  vol.  iii. 
pp.  704,  705.  Blass  ascribed  the  verses  to 
Sappho,  and  he  is  still  of  opinion  that  they  are 
hers,  from  the  metre,  the  dialect,  and  'the 


THE    FAYUM    FRAGMENTS      183 

colour  of  the  diction,'  to  use  his  own  expression 
in  a  letter  to  me.  Indeed,  every  word  of  them 
makes  one  feel  that  no  poet  or  poetess  save 
Sappho  could  have  so  exquisitely  combined 
simplicity  and  beauty.  Bergk,  however,  prints 
them  as  of  uncertain  origin,  fragmenta  adespota 
(56  A.,  56  B).  He  agrees  with  Blass  that  they 
are  in  the  Lesbian  dialect  and  the  Sapphic 
metre,  but  he  thinks  that  they  may  have  been 
written  by  Alcaeus.  Bergk's  decision  partly 
rests  upon  the  statement  of  Suidas,  that  Hora- 
pollo,  the  Greek  grammarian,  who  first  taught 
at  Alexandria  and  afterwards  at  Constantinople, 
in  the  reign  of  Theodosius,  about  400  A.D., 
wrote  a  commentary  on  Alcaeus ;  but  he  gives 
no  reason  for  believing  that  these  Fayum  manu- 
scripts necessarily  come  from  Alexandria  :  their 
history  is  very  uncertain.  Blass  thinks  that  the 
greater  fame,  especially  in  later  times,  of  Sappho, 
strongly  favours  his  own  view.  To  my  mind 
there  is  little  doubt  that  we  have  herein  none 
but  her  very  words. 

A  restoration  of  such  imperfect  fragments 
must  needs  be  guess-work.  Bergk  has,  how- 
ever, attempted  it  in  part,  and  he  has  accepted 
the  emendations  of  Blass  in  lines  3-5  of  frag- 
ment A.  Biicheler,  one  of  the  editors  of  the 
Rhtinisches  Museum,  has  also  expressed  his 
views  with  regard  to  some  of  the  lines;  but 


184  SAPPHO 

they  are  not  endorsed  by  the  authority  of 
Bergk.  According  to  the  latter  distinguished 
scholar,  fragment  A  may  have  run  thus  :  — 

I  —  v  —  w  —  SOKIJLIOK;  x<*Plv  MOI 
OUK  anu&oxjHv 

juev  T*  enrepurHQ  w  —  w 


9iAoic,  AUITHC  re  Me  KanopinrHQ 
5  ei<;  cu'  oveiooq. 

H  Kev  ol&Hoaic,  tni  T'  aif' 
Snupiav  aoaio'   TO  r«P  VOHUO 
TWJUOV  OUK  OUTGO  juaAaK09pov, 

TOig    &UXKHTUI. 
IO   -  w  )JH5'  w  -  ww  -  w  -  w 

In  which  case  it  might  have  had  this  mean- 
ing:— 

Thou  seemest  not  to  care  to  return  my 
favour;  and  indeed  thou  didst  fly  away  from 
famous  .  .  .  of  the  fair  and  noble  .  .  . 
to  thy  friends,  and  painest  me,  and  easiest 
reproach  at  me.  Truly  thou  mayst  swell,  and 
sate  thyself  with  milking  a  goat  of  Scyros.  For 
my  mood  is  not  so  soft-hearted  to  those  soever 
to  whom  //  is  disposed  unfriendly  .  .  .  nor  .  .  . 
The  words  which  are  here  italicised  are  those 
which  alone  are  extant  in  full  in  the  manu- 
script; the  others  are  only  plausible  guesses, 
though  some  of  them  are  indicated  by  the 
existence  of  accents  and  portions  of  letters. 


THE    FAYUM    FRAGMENTS      185 

Bergk's  ingenious  restoration  of  lines  6  and 
7  is  founded  on  a  fragment  of  Alcaeus  (fr.  1  10), 
wherein  Chrysippus  explains  al£  SKupia,  a  goat  of 
Scyros,  as  a  proverb  of  those  who  spoil  kind- 
ness (rni  TCOV  TOQ  euepreaiac  avarpeirovrcov),  as  a  goat 
upsets  her  milking  pail  (erreibH  noAAaKig  TO  afpeTa 
avarpeirei  H  al£).  Blass  would,  however,  complete 
the  phrase  thus  :  — 

km  T  (5  re  Awpot 
Kapo)  iav  aaaio, 

And  with  the  outrage  sate  thy  heart. 

Disappointing  as  this  is,  the  restoration  of 
fragment  B.  is  yet  more  hopeless.  Authorities 
are  agreed  as  to  the  position  of  the  words  in 
the  Sapphic  stanza,  thus  :  — 


—  w  —  w  —  ww  —  buvauai 

w  w         w 
5  —  w  —  w  —  w,  w  a?  Kev  «  MOi 

—  w  —  w  —  w  w  avTiAot/utTHV 

—  w  —  w  —  w  KG)  Aov  npoaconov 


10  —  w  —  w  —  wv  —  trai)  pog. 

The  only  additions  hazarded  by  Bergk,  or 
accepted  by  him  from  Blass,  are  given  on  the 
left  of  the  brackets.  Bergk  says  that  Suvawai  (as 
if  w  --  ;  cf.  fr.  13)  is  an  old  form  of  the  con- 


186  SAPPHO 


junctive  for  bi  foonm.  He  reads  line  5,  oic  KEV  K  MOI, 
comparing  Theocritus,  29,  20,  5«;  KCV  epm;,  'as 
long  as  thou  lovest  '  :  Bergk  and  Blass  alike 
consider  H  as  a  later  form  of  H.  The  words  may 
mean: 

.  .   .   soul  .   .  .  altogether  .  .   .  /  should  be 
able  .    .  .  as  long  indeed  as  to  me  .  .  .  to  flash 
back  .   .   .  fair  face  .  .  .   stained  over  .  .   . 
friend. 

But  in  the  absence  of  any  context  the  very 
meaning  of  the  separate  words  is  uncertain. 

Bergk  thinks  that  the  fragments  belong  to 
different  poems,  unless  we  read  fragment  A. 
after  fragment  B.  ;  there  is  nothing  on  the 
parchment  to  indicate  sequence. 

In  fragment  B.  it  will  be  seen  that  a  space 
occurs  in  each  place  where  the  last  (or  Adonic) 
verses  of  each  Sapphic  stanza  would  have  been, 
as  if  they  had  been  written  more  to  the  left  in 
the  manuscript  ;  they  probably  therefore  ranged 
with  the  long  lines,  of  which  we  have  only  some 
of  the  last  syllables  preserved.  Indenting  the 
shorter  verses  is  a  modern  fashion  ;  the  ancient 
way  was  to  begin  each  one  at  the  same  distance 
from  the  margin. 


SAPPHO   TO   PHAON 

A  TRANSLATION  OF  OVID*S   HEROIC  EPISTLE,  XV. 
BY  ALEXANDER  POPE,   1707 

SAY,  lovely  youth  that  dost  my  heart  command, 
Can  Phaon's  eyes  forget  his  Sappho's  hand  ? 
Must  then  her  name  the  wretched  writer  prove, 
To  thy  remembrance  lost  as  to  thy  love  ? 
Ask   not   the   cause    that    I    new   numbers 

choose, 

The  lute  neglected  and  the  lyric  Muse : 
Love  taught  my  tears  in  sadder  notes  to  flow, 
And  tuned  my  heart  to  elegies  of  woe. 

I  burn,  I  burn,  as  when  through  ripened 

corn 
By   driving   winds    the    spreading   flames   are 

borne. 

Phaon  to  Aetna's  scorching  fields  retires, 
While  I  consume  with  more  than  Aetna's  fires. 

187 


188  SAPPHO    TO    PHAON 

No  more  my  soul  a  charm  in  music  finds , 
Music  has  charms  alone  for  peaceful  minds : 
Soft  scenes  of  solitude  no  more  can  please ; 
Love  enters  there,  and  I'm  my  own  disease. 
No  more  the  Lesbian  dames  my  passion  move, 
Once  the  dear  objects  of  my  guilty  love  : x 
All  other  loves  are  lost  in  only  thine, 
Ah,  youth  ungrateful  to  a  flame  like  mine! 
Whom  would  not  all  those  blooming  charms 

surprise, 

Those  heavenly  looks  and  dear  deluding  eyes  ? 
The  harp  and  bow  would  you  like  Phoebus  bear, 
A  brighter  Phoebus  Phaon  might  appear  . 
Would  you  with  ivy  wreathe  your  flowing  hair, 
Not  Bacchus'  self  with  Phaon  could  compare : 
Yet  Phoebus  loved,  and  Bacchus  felt  the  flame  j 
One   Daphne   warmed    and    one    the    Cretan 

dame; 

Nymphs  that  in  verse  no  more  could  rival  me 
Than  e'en  those  gods  contend  in  charms  with 

thee. 

The  Muses  teach  me  all  their  softest  lays, 
And  the  wide  world  resounds  with  Sappho's 

praise. 

1  Line  19,  'quas  non  sine  crimine  amavi,'  which 
Pope  translates  thus,  is  read  in  many  old  texts  '  quas 
hie  sine  crimine  amavi '  =  whom  here  I  blamelessly 
loved ;  and  even  if  the  former  reading  be  adopted,  it 
must  be  remembered  that  crimen  means  '  an  accusation 
more  often  than  it  does  '  a  crime. ' 


SAPPHO    TO    PHAON  189 

Though  great  Alcaeus  more  sublimely  sings, 
And   strikes   with    bolder   rage   the   sounding 

strings, 

No  less  renown  attends  the  moving  lyre 
Which  Venus  tunes  and  all  her  Loves  inspire. 
To  me  what  Nature  has  in  charms  denied 
Is  well  by  wit's  more  lasting  flames  supplied. 
Though  short  my  stature,  yet  my  name  extends 
To  heaven  itself  and  earth's  remotest  ends  : 
Brown  as  I  am,  an  Aethiopian  dame 
Inspired  young  Perseus  with  a  generous  flame  •. 
Turtles  and  doves  of  different  hue  unite, 
And  glossy  jet  is  paired  with  shining  white. 
If  to  no  charms  thou  wilt  thy  heart  resign 
But  such  as  merit,  such  as  equal  thine, 
By  none,  alas,  by  none  thou  canst  be  moved ; 
Phaon  alone  by  Phaon  must  be  loved. 
Yet  once  thy  Sappho  could  thy  cares  employ  ; 
Once  in  her  arms  you  centred  all  your  joy : 
No  time  the  dear  remembrance  can  remove, 
For  oh  how  vast  a  memory  has  love ! 
My  music  then  you  could  for  ever  hear, 
And  all  my  words  were  music  to  your  ear : 
You  stopt  with  kisses  my  enchanting  tongue, 
And  found  my  kisses  sweeter  than  my  song. 
In  all  I  pleased,  but  most  in  what  was  best ; 
And  the  last  joy  was  dearer  than  the  rest : 
Then  with  each  word,  each  glance,  each  motion 

fired, 


SAPPHO    TO    PHAON 

You  still  enjoyed,  and  yet  you  still  desired, 
Till  all  dissolving  in  the  trance  we  lay, 
And  in  tumultuous  raptures  died  away. 

The  fair  Sicilians  now  thy  soul  inflame : 
Why  was  I  born,  ye  gods,  a  Lesbian  dame  ? 
But  ah,  beware,  Sicilian  nymphs,  nor  boast 
That  wandering  heart  which  I  so  lately  lost ; 
Nor  be  with  all  those  tempting  words  abused  : 
Those  tempting  words  were  all  to  Sappho  used. 
And  you  that  rule  Sicilia's  happy  plains, 
Have  pity,  Venus,  on  your  poet's  pains. 

Shall  fortune  still  in  one  sad  tenor  run 
And  still  increase  the  woes  so  soon  begun  ? 
Inured  to  sorrow  from  my  tender  years, 
My  parent's  ashes  drank  my  early  tears  : 
My  brother  next,  neglecting  wealth  and  fame, 
Ignobly  burned  in  a  destructive  flame : 
An  infant  daughter  late  my  griefs  increased, 
And  all  a  mother's  cares  distract  my  breast. 
Alas,  what  more  could  Fate  itself  impose, 
But  thee,  the  last  and  greatest  of  my  woes  ? 
No  more  my  robes  in  waving  purple  flow, 
Nor  on  my  hand  the  sparkling  diamonds  glow ; 
No  more  my  locks  in  ringlets  curled  diffuse 
The  costly  sweetness  of  Arabian  dews ; 
Nor  braids  of  gold  the  varied  tresses  bind 
That  fly  disordered  with  the  wanton  wind. 
P'or  whom  should  Sappho  use  such  arts  as  these? 


SAPPHO    TO    PHAON  ipl 

He 's  gone  whom  only  she  desired  to  please  ! 
Cupid's  light  darts  my  tender  bosom  move ; 
Still  is  there  cause  for  Sappho  still  to  love ; 
So  from  my  birth  the  Sisters  fixed  my  doom, 
And  gave  to  Venus  all  my  life  to  come  : 
Or,  while  my  Muse  in  melting  notes  complains, 
My  yielding  heart  keeps  measure  to  my  strains. 
By  charms  like  thine,  which  all  mysoul  havewon, 
Who  might  not — ah,  who  would  not  be  undone? 
For  those,  Aurora  Cephalus  might  scorn, 
And  with  fresh  blushes  paint  theconscious  morn: 
For  those,  might  Cynthia  lengthen  Phaon's  sleep, 
And  bid  Endymion  nightly  tend  his  sheep  : 
Venus  for  those  had  rapt  thee  to  the  skies, 
But  Mars  on  thee  might  look  with  Venus'  eyes. 
O  scarce  a  youth,  yet  scarce  a  tender  boy ! 
O  useful  time  for  lovers  to  employ  ! 
Pride  of  thy  age,  and  glory  of  thy  race, 
Come  to  these  arms  and  melt  in  this  embrace  ! 
The  vows  you  never  will  return,  receive ; 
And  take  at  least  the  love  you  will  not  give. 
See,  while  I  write,  my  words  are  lost  in  tears : 
The  less  my  sense,  the  more  my  love  appears. 

Sure  'twas  not  much  to  bid  one  kind  adieu : 
At  least,  to  feign  was  never  hard  to  you. 
'Farewell,  my  Lesbian  love,'  you  might  have 

said ; 
Or  coldly  thus,  '  Farewell,  O  Lesbian  maid.' 


192  SAPPHO    TO    PHAON 

No  tear  did  you,  no  parting  kiss  receive, 
Nor  knew  I  then  how  much  I  was  to  grieve. 
No  lover's  gift  your  Sappho  could  confer; 
And  wrongs  and  woes  were  all  you  left  with  her. 
No  charge  I  gave  you,  and  no  charge  could  give 
But  this — '  Be  mindful  of  our  loves,  and  live.' 
Now  by  the  Nine,  those  powers  adored  by  me, 
And  Love,  the  god  that  ever  waits  on  thee ; — 
When  first  I  heard  (from  whom  I  hardly  knew) 
That  you  were  fled  and  all  my  joys  with  you, 
Like  some  sad  statue,  speechless,  pale  I  stood  ; 
Grief  chilled  my  breast  and  stopt  my  freezing 

blood ; 

No  sigh  to  rise,  no  tear  had  power  to  flow, 
Fixed  in  a  stupid  lethargy  of  woe. 
But  when  its  way  the  impetuous  passion  found, 
I  rend  my  tresses  and  my  breasts  I  wound ; 
I  rave,  then  weep ;  I  curse,  and  then  complain ; 
Now  swell  to  rage,  now  melt  in  tears  again. 
Not  fiercer  pangs  distract  the  mournful  dame 
Whose    first-born    infant     feeds    the    funeral 

flame. 

My  scornful  brother  with  a  smile  appears, 
Insults  my  woes,  and  triumphs  in  my  tears ; 
His  hated  image  ever  haunts  my  eyes ; — 
'And  why  this  grief?   thy  daughter  lives,'  he 

cries. 

Stung  with  my  love  and  furious  with  despair, 
All  torn  my  garments  and  my  bosom  bare, 


SAPPHO    TO    PHAON  193 

My  woes,  thy  crimes,  I  to  the  world  proclaim  , 
Such  inconsistent  things  are  love  and  shame. 
'Tis  thou  art  all  my  care  and  my  delight, 
My  daily  longing  and  my  dream  by  night. — 

0  night,  more  pleasing  than  the  brightest  day, 
When  fancy  gives  what  absence  takes  away, 
And,  dressed  in  all  its  visionary  charms, 
Restores  my  fair  deserter  to  my  arms  ! 

Then  round   your   neck  in  wanton    wreath  I 

twine ; 

Then  you,  methinks,  as  fondly  circle  mine  : 
A  thousand  tender  words  I  hear  and  speak  ; 
A  thousand  melting  kisses  give  and  take  : 
Then  fiercer  joys ;  I  blush  to  mention  these, 
Yet,  while  I  blush,  confess  how  much  they  please. 
But  when  with  day  the  sweet  delusions  fly, 
And  all  things  wake  to  life  and  joy,  but  I ; 
As  if  once  more  forsaken,  I  complain, 
And  close  my  eyes  to  dream  of  you  again  : 
Then  frantic  rise ;  and,  like  some  fury,  rove 
Through  lonely  plains,  and  through  the  silent 

grove, 

As  if  the  silent  grove  and  lonely  plains, 
That  knew  my  pleasures,  could  relieve  my  pains, 

1  view  the  grotto,  once  the  scene  of  love, 
The  rocks  around,  the  hanging  roofs  above, 
That  charmed  me  more,  with  native  moss  o'er- 

grown, 

Than  Phrygian  marble  or  the  Parian  stone : 
N 


194  SAPPHO    TO    PHAON 

I  find  the  shades  that  veiled  our  joys  before ; 
But,  Phaon  gone,  those  shades  delight  no  more. 
Here  the  pressed  herbs  with  bending  tops  betray 
Where  oft  entwined  in  amorous  folds  we  lay ; 
I  kiss  that  earth  which  once  was  pressed  by  you, 
And  all  with  tears  the  withering  herbs  bedew. 
For  thee  the  fading  trees  appear  to  mourn, 
And  birds  defer  their  song  till  thy  return : 
Night  shades  the  groves,  and  all  in  silence  lie, — 
All  but  the  mournful  Philomel  and  I : 
With  mournful  Philomel  I  join  my  strain ; 
Of  Tereus  she,  of  Phaon  I  complain. 

A  spring  there  is  whose  silver  waters  show, 
Clear  as  a  glass,  the  shining  sands  below : 
A  flowery  lotus  spreads  its  arms  above, 
Shades  all  the  banks  and  seems  itself  a  grove ; 
Eternal  greens  the  mossy  margin  grace, 
Watched  by  the  sylvan  genius  of  the  place : 
Here  as  I  lay,  and  swelled  with  tears  the  flood 
Before  my  sight  a  watery  virgin  stood : 
She  stood  and  cried, — '  O  you  that  love  in  vain, 
Fly  hence  and  seek  the  fair  Leucadian  main : 
There  stands  a  rock  from  whose  impending 

steep 

Apollo's  fane  surveys  the  rolling  deep ; 
There  injured  lovers,  leaping  from  above, 
Their  flames  extinguish  and  forget  to  love. 
Deucalion  once  with  hopeless  fury  burned ; 


SAPPHO    TO    PHAON  195 

In  vain  he  loved,  relentless  Pyrrha  scorned. 
But  when  from  hence  he  plunged  into  the  main, 
Deucalion  scorned,  and  Pyrrha  loved  in  vain. 
Haste,  Sappho,  haste,  from  high  Leucadia  throw 
Thy  wretched   weight,   nor  dread   the  deeps 

below.' 
She  spoke,  and  vanished  with  the  voice:    I 

rise, 

And  silent  tears  fall  trickling  from  my  eyes. 
I  go,  ye  nymphs,  those  rocks  and  seas  to  prove : 
How  much  I  fear,  but  ah,  how  much  I  love ! 
I  go,  ye  nymphs,  where  furious  love  inspires ; 
Let  female  fears  submit  to  female  fires  : 
To  rocks  and  seas  I  fly  from  Phaon's  hate, 
And  hope  from  seas  and  rocks  a  milder  fate. 
Ye  gentle  gales,  beneath  my  body  blow, 
And  softly  lay  me  on  the  waves  below. 
And  thou,  kind  Love,  my  sinking  limbs  sustain, 
Spread  thy  soft  wings  and  waft  me  o'er  the  main, 
Nor  let  a  lover's  death  the  guiltless  flood  profane. 
On  Phoebus'  shrine  my  harp  I  '11  then  bestow, 
And  this  inscription  shall  be  placed  below: — 
*  Here  she  who  sung,  to  him  that  did  inspire, 
Sappho  to  Phoebus  consecrates  her  lyre : 
What  suits  with  Sappho,  Phoebus,  suits  with  thee; 
The  gift,  the  giver,  and  the  god  agree.' 

But  why,  alas,  relentless  youth,  ah,  why 
To  distant  seas  must  tender  Sappho  fly  ? 


196  SAPPHO    TO    PHAON 

Thy  charms  than  those  may  far  more  powerful 

be, 

And  Phoebus'  self  is  less  a  god  to  me. 
Ah,  canst  thou  doom  me  to  the  rocks  and  sea, 
O  far  more  faithless  and  more  hard  than  they  ? 
Ah,  canst  thou  rather  see  this  tender  breast 
Dashed   on   these   rocks   that  to  thy  bosom 

pressed  ? 
This  breast,  which  once,  in  vain  !  you  liked  so 

well; 
Where  the  Loves  played,  and  where  the  Muses 

dwell. 

Alas,  the  Muses  now  no  more  inspire : 
Untuned  my  lute,  and  silent  is  my  lyre : 
My  languid  numbers  have  forgot  to  flow, 
And  fancy  sinks  beneath  the  weight  of  woe. 

Ye  Lesbian  virgins  and  ye  Lesbian  dames, 
Themes  of  my  verse  and  objects  of  my  flames, 
No  more  your  groves  with  my  glad  songs  shall 

ring; 
No  more  these  hands  shall  touch  the  trembling 

string : 

My  Phaon  's  fled,  and  I  those  arts  resign  : 
(Wretch  that  I  am,  to  call  that  Phaon  mine  !) 
Return,  fair  youth,  return,  and  bring  along 
Joy  to  my  soul  and  vigour  to  my  song. 
Absent  from  thee,  the  poet's  flame  expires ; 
But  ah,  how  fiercely  burn  the  lover's  fires  ! 


SAPPHO    TO    PHAON  197 

Gods,  can  no  prayers,  no  sighs,  no   numbers 

move 

One  savage  heart,  or  teach  it  how  to  love  ? 
The  winds  my  prayers,  my  sighs,  my  numbers 

bear  ; 

The  flying  winds  have  lost  them  all  in  air. 
Or  when,  alas,  shall  more  auspicious  gales 
To  these  fond  eyes  restore  thy  welcome  sails  ? 
If  you  return,  ah,  why  these  long  delays  ? 
Poor  Sappho  dies  while  careless  Phaon  stays. 
O  launch  the  bark,  nor  fear  the  watery  plain : 
Venus  for  thee  shall  smooth  her  native  main. 
O  launch  thy  bark,  secure  of  prosperous  gales : 
Cupid  for  thee  shall  spread  the  swelling  sails. 
If  you  will  fly — (yet  ah,  what  cause  can  be, 
Too  cruel  youth,  that  you  should  fly  from  me  ?) 
If  not  from  Phaon  I  must  hope  for  ease, 
Ah,  let  me  seek  it  from  the  raging  seas : 
To  raging  seas  unpitied  I  '11  remove ; 
And  either  cease  to  live  or  cease  to  love. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

THE  following  list  comprises  most  of  the  books  and 
articles  in  Sapphic  literature  which  I  have  consulted.  I 
have  added  a  few  to  which  I  have  had  reference,  but 
which  I  have  not  succeeded  in  seeing  :  many  of  them  are 
mere  curiosities.  I  could  have  still  further  extended  the 
bibliography,  if  I  had  taken  more  on  trust.  I  have  not 
generally  thought  it  necessary  to  quote  well-known  his- 
tories of  Greece  and  Greek  literature,  nor  such  transla- 
tions as  throw  no  light  upon  her  beyond  what  this  list 
contains. 

ADDISON,  JOHN  :  The  Works  of  Anacreon  translated  into 
English  Verse  ;  with  Notes  explanatory  and  poetical. 
To  which  are  added  the  Odes,  Fragments,  and 
Epigrams  of  Sappho.  With  the  original  Greek 
placed  opposite  to  the  Translation.  8vo,  London, 
1735- 

ADDISON,  JOSEPH  :  Spectator,  No.  223,  Nov.  15,  1711 
and  No.  233,  Nov.  27,  1711. 

AHRENS,  HEINRICH  LUDOLF:  De  Graecae  Linguae 
Dialectis,  Sapphus  fragmenta,  pp.  256-274  of  Lib.  I. 
Svo,  Gottingen,  1839. 

AHKENS,  HEINRICH  LUDOLF:  Conjecturen  in  Alcaus 
und  Sappho,  Rheinisches  Museum,  1842,  pp.  388- 
401. 

199 


200  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Anacreontis  Carmina,  cum  Sapphonis  et  Alcaei  fragmen 

tis.     Glasgow,  1744,  1757,  1761  and  1783. 
Anacreontis  et  Sapphonis  Carmina.     Cum  virorum  doc- 

torum  notis  et  emendationibus,  in  usum  juventutis 

Academiae  Salfordiensis,  Com.  Lancastriae.     8vo, 

London,  1754. 
ANDREAS,  ELIAS  :  Anacreontis  Teii  antiquissimi  poetae 

Lyrici  Odae,  ab  Helia  Andrea  Latinae  factae.   i6mo, 

Lutetiae,  1556. 
ANDREAS,  ELIAS  :    Anacreontis,   Sapphus,  et   Erinnae 

Carmina  interpretibus  Henrico   Stephano  et   Elia 

Andrea.     64010,  Edinburgh,  1766. 
ARNOLD,  DR.  BERNHARD  :  Sappho.   Vortrag,  gehalten 

zu  Miinchen  am  25.     Marz  1870.     Aus  Sammlung 

gemeinverstandlicher  Vortrage    herausg.    v.    Rud. 

Virchow  und  Fr.  von  Holtzendorff.     Berlin,  1871. 

ARNOLD,  EDWIN,  M.A.,  C.S.I.  :  The  Poets  of  Greece 
[pp.  105-118].  8vo,  London,  1869. 

BAXTER,  WILLIAM  :  see  Vossius,  Isaac  (1695). 

BAXTER,  WILLIAM:  Anacreontis  Teii  Carmina  Graece  e 
Recensione  Guilielmi  Baxteri  cum  ejusdem  Henr. 
item  Stephani  atque  Tanegvidi  Fabri  notis  acces- 
serunt  duo  Sapphus  Odaria  [pp.  167-172;  249-254] 
et  Theocriti  Anacreonticum  in  mortuum  Adonin. 
Iterum  edidit  varietatemque  lectionibus  cum  suis 
animadversionibus  et  Anacreontis  fragmenta  adjecit 
Job..  Frider.  Fischerus.  8vo,  Leipzig,  1776. 

BEAU,   GABRIEL  :    La   Grece   Poetique.      Anacreon — 

Sappho  [pp.    81-97] — Bion — Moschus — Theocrite. 

I2mo,  Paris,  1884. 
BENTLEY,  RICHARD,   D.D.  :    in  Graevius'  Callimajchi 

Fragmenta,    8vo,    Utrecht,   1697,  ad.  fr.   417,   de 

Sapphus  fragm.  118. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  2OI 

BERGK,  THEODOR  :  De  aliquot  fragtnentis  Sapphonis  et 

Alcaei.     Rheinisches  Museum  fiir  Philologie,  8vo, 

Bonn,  1835,  pp.  209-231. 
BERGK,  THEODOR  :  Anthologia  Lyrica.     8vo,  Leipzig, 

1854,  pp.  261-273  (text  only). 
BERGK,  THEODOR  :  Poetae  Lyrici  Graeci,  ed.  4,  vol.  3, 

pp.  82-140.     8vo,  Leipzig,  1882. 
Bibliotheque  Universelle  des  Dames  ;  alias  Bibliotheque 

de  Mesdemoiselles  Eulalie,  Felicite,  Sophie,  Emilie 

De   Marcilly.     Melanges.     Tom.  viii.  pp.  95-130. 

24010,  Paris,  1787. 

BLAND,  REV.  ROBERT  :  see  Merivale,  J.  H. 
BLASS,   FRIEDRICH,   of   Kiel :    Zu    den    Griechischen 

Lyrikern.     Rhein.  Mus.,  vol.  xxix.,  1874:  Sappho, 

PP-  I49-I51- 
BLASS,  FRIEDRICH,   of  Kiel  :    Neue  Fragmente  .  .  . 

der  Sappho.     Rhein.  Mus.,   vol.  xxxv.   1880;  pp. 

287-290. 

BLOMFIELD,  CHARLES  JAMES,  Bishop  of  London :  Cam- 
bridge Museum  Criticum,  vol.  i. ,  pp.  1-31,  250-252, 

421,  422.     8vo,  1826. 

BLOMFIELD,  CHARLES  JAMES  :  see  Gaisford. 
BLUM,  JOHANN  CHRISTIAN  :   in  Olearius'  De  Poetriis 

Graecis.     4to,  Leipzig,  1712. 
BOETTICHER,  K.  :  Zwei  Hermenbildnisse  der  Sappho ; 

with  a  photograph.     Archaologische  Zeitung,  4to, 

Berlin,  1872,  pp.  83-86. 
BORN,  FRIEDRICH  GOTTLIEB,  PH.D.  :  Anacreontis  et 

Sapphus  [pp.  219-227]  Carmina  Graece  recensuit 

notisque  illustravit  ex  optimis  interpretibus,  quibus 

et  suas  adjecit.     8vo,  Leipzig,  1789. 
BOTHE,  FRIDERICUS  HENRICUS  :  Anacreontica  Graece 

recensuit  notisque criticis  instruxit.  SctTupouq  Aeiyava 

pp.  77-81.     i6mo,  Leipzig,  1805. 


202  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

BRAUN,  G.  C. :  Die  Fragmente  der  Sappho,  ubersetzt 
von  G.  C.  B[raun].  8vo,  Wetzlar,  1815. 

BROCKHAUSEN,  R.  :  Sappho's  Lieder  in  deutschen 
Versen  nachgebildet.  Lemgo,  1827. 

BRUNCK,  RICHARD  FRANCOIS  PHILIPPE  :  Analecta  vet- 
erum  poetarum  Graecorum  :  i.,  pp.  54-57  ;  ii.,  p.  8. 
8vo,  Strassburg,  1772. 

BRUNCK,  RICHARD  FRANC.OIS  PHILIPPE  :  Anacreontis 
Carmina:  accedunt  quaedam  e  lyricorum  reliquiis 
pp.  82-86.  Ed.  2,  I2mo,  Strassburg,  1786. 

BRUNCK,  RICHARD  FRANCOIS  PHILIPPE  :  see  Weise, 
G.  H.  (1844). 

BURGKK,  EDUARD  :  Anacreon  und  andere  lyrische 
Dichter  Griechenlands  in  deutschen  Reimen.  32mo, 
Stuttgart,  1855. 

BUSTELLI,  GIUSEPPE:  Vita  e  Frammenti  di  Saffo  de 
Mitilene.  Discorso  e  versione  (prima  inter  a).  Pp. 
104.  8vo,  Bologna,  1863. 

CAPPONE,  FRANCESCO  ANTONIO  :  Liriche  Parafrasi  di 
D.  Francesco  Antonio  Cappone,  Academico  ozioso. 
Supra  tutte  1'Ode  d'Anacreonte,  e  sopra  alcune  altre 
Poesie  di  diversi  Lirici  Poeti  Greci.  Secundo  la 
preposta  version  Latina  de'l'or  piu  celebri  Traduttori. 
pp.  190-200.  241110,  Venice,  1670. 

COMPARETTI,  PROFESSOR  DOMENICO  :  Saffo  e  Faone 
dinanzi  'alia  critica  storia,  in  the  Nuova  Antologia  di 
Scienze,  Lettere  ed  Arti,  anno  xi.,  seconda  serie, 
vol.  i.,  fasc.  ii.,  pp.  253-288.  8vo,  Florence,  Febr. 
1876. 

COMPARETTI,  PROFESSOR  DOMENICO  :  Sulla  Epistola 
Ovidiana  di  Saffo  a  Faone,  studico  critio.  Published 
by  the  R.  Istituto  di  Studi  Superiori  pratici  e  di 
perfezionamento  in  Firenze,  Sezione  di  Fiiosofia  e 
Filologia,  vol.  ii.,  dispensa  prima,  8vo,  pp.  53, 
Florence,  1876. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  2O3 

COMPARETTI,  PROFESSOR  DOMENICO  :  Sappho  nelle 
Antiche  Rappresentanze  Vascolari.  Published  in 
the  Museo  Italiano  di  Antichita  Classica,  pp.  41-80, 
with  4  plates,  410,  Firenze,  1886. 

COUPIN  :  see  Girodet  de  Roussy. 

COURIER,  P.-L.  :  Daphnis  et  Chloe,  traduit  par  P.-L. 
Courier.  Suivi  des  Poesies  d'Anacreon  et  de  Sappho 
[Odes  I.  and  II.  in  French  prose,  pp.  45-49]  tra- 
duction  nouvelle  d'apres  un  Manuscrit  de  1'ecole 
d'Athenes.  8vo,  Paris,  1878. 

CRAMER,  JOHN  ANTONY,  D.D. :  Anecdota  Graeca  e 
codd.  manuscriptis  Bibliothecarum  Oxoniensium  de- 
scripsit.  Frag.  95,  vol.  i.,  p.  444;  frag.  158,  vol. 
"•>  P-  325-  2  v°k'  8vo,  Oxford,  1835-6. 

CRAMER,  J.  CHR.  :  Diatribe  chronologico-critica  dp 
patria  Sapphus.  4to,  Jena,  N.D. 

CRAMER,  J.  CHR.  :  Diatribe  chronologico-critica  de  auj" 
9poviojuup  Sapphus  et  Anacreontis.  410,  Jena,  1755. 

DACIER,  ANNE  LEFEVRE  l :  Les  Poesies  d'Anacreon  et 
de  Sapho,  traduites  de  Grec  en  Fran(ois,  avec  des 
Remarques.  Les  Poesies  de  Sapho  de  Lesbos,  pp. 
387-429.  I2mo,  Paris,  1681. 

DACIER,  ANNE  LEFEVRE  :  Les  Poesies  d'Anacreon  et  de 
Sapho  traduites  de  Grec  en  Frangois,  avec  des  Re- 
marques  par  Mademoiselle  Le  Fevre,  pp.  387-429, 
I2mo,  Lyons,  1696. 

DACIER,  ANNE  LEFEVRE  :  Les  poesies  d'Anacreon  et  de 
Sapho  traduites  de  Grec  en  Frangois,  avec  des  Re- 
marques,  par  Madame  Dacier.  Nouvelle  edition 
augmentee  des  Notes  Latines  de  Mr.  le  Fevre. 
I2mo,  Amsterdam,  1699. 

1  Anne  Lefevre,  daughter  of  Tanneguy  Lefevre  (Tanaquillus 
Fmber],  born  at  Saumur  about  1654,  married  Andre  Dacier  in  1683 
and  died  at  the  Louvre,  1720. 


204  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

DACIEK,  ANNE  LEFEVRE  :  Les  Poe'sies  d'Anacreon  et  de 
Sapho  traduites  de  Grec  en  Frai^ois,  avec  des  Re  • 
marques,  par  Madame  Dacier.  Nouvelle  Edition, 
augmentee  des  Notes  Latines  de  Mr.  le  Fevre,  et  de 
la  Traduction  en  vers  Frai^ois  de  Mr.  de  la  Fosse. 
8vo,  Amsterdam,  1716. 

DEGEN,  J.  F.  :  Anacreon  und  Sappho's  Lieder  nebst 
and.  lyr.  Gedichten,  Text  und  libers.  Altenburg, 
1787. 

Die  Gedichte  Anakreons  und  der  Sappho  Oden  aus  dem 
Griechischen  ubersetzt,  und  mit  Anmerkungen  be- 
gleitet,  pp.  205-216.  8vo,  Carlsruhe,  1760. 

Discours  sur  la  Poesie  lyrique,  avec  les  modeles  du  genre 
tire's  de  Pindare,  d'Anacreon,  de  Sapho  [pp.  137- 
140],  de  Malherbe,  etc.  24mo,  Paris,  1761. 

Du  Bois,  EDWARD:  The  Wreath;  composed  of  Se- 
lections from  Sappho,  etc,  .  .  .  accompanied  by 
a  prose  translation,  with  notes.  8vo,  London, 
1799- 

DuBOis-GoCHAN,  E.-P.  :  La  Pl&ade  Grecque  :  Tra- 
ductions  contenant  Les  Odes  et  Fragments  d'Ana- 
cre"on,  Les  Poesies  de  Sapho,  etc.,  pp.  71-88.  8vo, 
Paris,  1873. 

EASBY-SMITH,  JAMES  S.  :  The  Songs  of  Sappho.  8vo, 
pp.  ix.  97,  Washington,  1891. 

EGERTON,  THE  HONOURABLE  FRANCIS  HENRY  :  A 
Fragment  of  an  Ode  of  Sappho,  from  Longinus  : 
also,  an  Ode  of  Sappho  from  Dionysius  Halicarn. 
Pp.  26.  8vo,  Paris,  1815. 

ELTON,  SIR  CHARLES  ABRAHAM,  BART.  :  Specimens  of 
the  Classic  Poets  .  .  .  translated  into  English 
verse,  and  illustrated  with  biographical  aud  criti- 
cal notices;  vol.  i.,  pp.  99-111.  8vo,  London, 
1814. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  205 

FABER,  TANAQUILLUS  :  Anacreontis  et  Sapphonis  Car- 
mina.  Notas  et  Animadversiones  addidit  Tanaquillus 
Faber ;  in  quibus  multa  Veterum  emendantur. 
24010,  Saumur,  1670. 

FABER,  TANAQUILLUS:  see  Baxter,  William  (1776). 

FARD,  LE  POETE  SANS  :  see  Ga9on,  Francis. 

FARNELL,  GEORGE  S. :  Greek  Lyric  Poetry  ;  pp.  148- 
167,  327-342.  8vo,  London,  1891. 

FAWKES,  REV.  FRANCIS,  M.A. :  The  Works  of  Anacreon, 
Sappho  [pp.  169-196],  Bion,  Moschus,  and  Musaeus. 
Translated  into  English  by  a  Gentleman  of  Cam- 
bridge. 1 2mo,  London,  1760.  Often  reprinted,  e.g. 
1789  ;  1810  ;  1832  ;  in  Anderson's  Poets  of  Great 
Britain,  vol.  xiii.,  1793  ;  in  Chalmers'  Works  of  the 
English  Poets,  vol.  xx.,  1810,  etc. 

FELTON,  CORNELIUS  CON  WAY,  LL.D. :  Greece, 
Ancient  and  Modern.  Lectures  delivered  before  the 
Lowell  Institute  [1852-1854].  (Sappho,  vol.  i.  pp. 
171-180).  2  vols.,  8vo,  Boston,  1867. 

FEVRE,  MADEMOISELLE  LE  :  see  Dacier,  Madame. 
IELD,  MICHAEL  :  Long  Ago.     8vo,  pp.  132,  London, 
1889. 

FINKENSTEIN,  F.  L.  K.  :  Sappho,  Ode  aus  Aphrodita 
ubers.  Berlin,  1810. 

FISCHER,  JOH.  FRIDR.  :  see  Baxter,  William  (1776). 

FONVIELLE,  B.  F.  A.  :  Sapho,  ou  Le  Saut  de  Leucate, 
tragedie  lyrique  en  trois  actes.  8vo,  Paris,  1816. 

FOSSE,  DE  LA  :  see  Dacier,  Madame  (1716). 

FRIEDRICH  :  Bion,  Anacreon,  und  Sappho.  Aus  d. 
Griech.  Ubers.  Libau,  1787. 

FROTHINGHAM,  ELLEN  :  Sappho,  a  tragedy  in  five  acts. 
A  translation  from  the  German  play  by  Franz 
Grillparzer.  l6mo,  Boston,  U.S.A.,  1876. 


206  BIBLIOGRAPHY 


N,  FRANCOIS  :  Les  Odes  d'Anacr^on  et  de  Sappho 
[pp.  343-354]  en  vers  Frai^ois  par  le  poete  Sans 
Fard.  I2mo,  Rotterdam,  1712;  also  Les  Poe"sies 
d'Anacre"on,  etc.,  32mo,  Paris,  1754. 

GA^ON,  FRANCOIS  :  '  AvaKpfovroc  THIOU  jueAH.  Zampouq 
'Aojuara.  i6mo,  Paris,  1754. 

GAISFORD,  THOMAS,  D.D.  :  Sapphonis  Fragmenta, 
edited  by  Charles  James  Blomfield,  and  reprinted 
from  the  Cambridge  Museum  Criticum,  fasc.  i.,  in 
Gaisford's  Poetae  Minores  Graeci,  vol.  iii.,  pp. 
289-314.  8vo,  Leipzig,  1823. 

GERHARD,  W.  :  Anacreon  und  Sappho.  Freie  Nach- 
bildung  fiir  den  deutschen  Gesang.  Leipzig,  1847. 

GILES,  J.  A.  :  see  Hainebach,  J.  H. 

GILLIVER  :  Anacreontis  carmina,  etc.  .  .  .  et  poetriae 
Sapphus  quae  supersunt.  London,  1733. 

GIRODET  DE  ROUSSY,  ANNE  Louis  :  Sappho,  Bion, 
Moschus,  Recueil  de  Compositions  dessine"es  par 
Girodet,  et  gravees  par  M.  Chatillon,  son  eleve,  avec 
la  traduction  en  vers  par  Girodet,  et  une  Notice  sur 
la  Vie  et  les  CEuvres  de  Sappho,  par  Coupin.  410, 
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VOLGER,  HEINRICH  FRIEDRICH  MAGNUS  :  Sapphus 
Lesbiae  Carmina  et  Fragmenta  recensuit,  com- 
mentario  illustravit,  schemata  musica  adjecit,  et 
indices  confecit  Henr.  Frid.  Magnus  Volger,  Pae- 
dagogii  Regii  Ilfeldensis  Collaborator.  Pp.  Ixviii., 
195.  8vo,  Leipzig,  1810. 

Vossius,  ISAAC  :  Catullus  et  in  euro  observationes. 
Pp.  112-117.  4to>  London,  1684. 

Vossius,  ISAAC:  Anacreontis  Teii  Carmina  .  .  . 
Willielmus  Baxter.  Subjiciuntur  autem  duo  vetus- 
tissimae  Poetriae  Sapphus  [pp.  122-131]  elegantis- 
sima  odaria,  una  cum  correctione  Isaaci  Vossii. 
8vo,  London,  1695. 

VRIES,  S.  G.  DE :  Epistula  Sapphus  ad  Phaonem 
apparatu  critico  instructa,  commentario  illustrata, 
et  Ovidio  vindicata.  An  inaugural  dissertation 
for  the  doctorate.  Pp.  ix.  155.  8vo,  Leyden,  1885. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  2I/ 

WALHOUSE,  MORETON  JOHN  :  The  Nine  Greek  Lyric 
Poets,  in  The  Gentleman's  Magazine,  pp.  433-451, 
April,  1877. 

WEIL,  H. :  quoted  by  Graux,  q.v. 

WEISE,  C.  H.  :  Anacreontis  Carmina,  cum  Sapphus 
aliorumque  reliquiis.  Adjectae  sunt  integrae 
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1878. 

WEISSE,  C.  F.  :  Eine  Ode,  iibersetz.  von  C.  F.  Weisse. 
Vid.  Schmidii  Anthologie,  torn.  ii.  Leipzig. 

WELCKER,  FRIEDRICH  GOTTLIEB  :  Sappho  von  einem 
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Gottingen,  1816.  Reprinted  in  his  Kleine  Schrif- 
ten,  vol.  ii.,  p.  80  f.,  1846. 

WELCKER,  FRIEDRICH  GOTTLIEB  :  Sappho,  a  review 
if  Neue's  edition,  in  Jahn's  Tahrbuch.  Pp.  394-408, 
1828.  Reprinted  in  his  Kleine  Schriften,  vol.  i., 
pp.  110-125.  8vo,  Bonn,  1844. 

WELCKER,  FRIEDRICH  GOTTLIEB  :  Sappho  und  Phaon, 
in  the  Rheinisches  Museum,  pp.  242-252,  1863. 
Reprinted  in  his  Kleine  Schriften,  vol.  v.,  pp.  228- 
242.  8vo,  Elberfeld,  1867.  A  review  of  Mure 
and  Koch. 

WESTPHAL,  K.  :  Zwei  Strophen  der  Sappho,  in  the 
Jahrbuch  fur  class.  Philologie,  pp.  690-694,  1860. 

WOLF,  JOHANN  CHRISTIAN  :  Sapphus,  poetriae  Les- 
biae,  fragmenta  et  elogia,  quotquot  in  auctoribus 
antiquis  Graecis  et  Latinis  reperiuntur,  cum  virorum 
doctorum  notis  integris,  cura  et  studio  Jo.  Christian! 
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Publici.  Qui  vitam  Sapphonis  et  Indices  adjecit. 
Pp.  xxxii.,  279.  8vo,  Hamburg,  1733. 


IN  MEMORIAM 

MR.  H.  T.  WHARTON —  known  to  book-lovers 
as  'Sappho  Wharton* — died  on  August  22, 
1895,  after  a  lingering  illness  due  to  influenza, 
at  his  residence  in  West  Hampstead;  and  he 
lies  buried  in  the  neighbouring  cemetery  of 
Fortune  Green. 

Henry  Thornton  Wharton  was  born  in  1846, 
at  Mitcham,  in  Surrey,  of  which  parish  his 
father  was  then  vicar.  His  mother,  who  sur- 
vives him,  was  a  Courtenay,  a  cousin  of  the 
Earl  of  Devon.  His  elder  brother,  the  author 
of  Etyma  Graeca  and  Etyma  Latina,  is  a  Fellow 
of  Jesus  College,  Oxford ;  a  younger  brother 
shares  his  taste  for  ornithology.  He  was 
educated  as  a  day-boy  at  the  Charterhouse,  in 
its  old  Smithfield  days ;  and  after  spending  a 
short  time  in  the  classical  department  of  King's 
College,  he  went  up  to  Oxford  in  1867,  as  a 
commoner  of  Wadham.  That  college  had  no 
more  enthusiastic  alumnus,  and  he  will  be 
greatly  missed,  both  at  the  Gaudy  and  at  the 

219 


22O  IN    MEMORIAM 

annual  dinner  in  London.  He  graduated  in 
1871  with  honours  in  natural  science,  and  then 
joined  the  medical  school  at  University  College. 
On  qualifying  as  M.R.C.S.  in  1875,  he  settled 
down  to  general  practice  in  West  Hampstead. 
He  never  earned  a  large  income ;  but  his  de- 
votion to  ail  his  patients,  and  in  particular  his 
generosity  to  the  poor,  will  cause  his  memory 
to  be  long  held  in  honour. 

The  general  public  first  heard  of  him  in  1885, 
when  he  brought  out  his  Sappho — memoir,  text, 
selected  renderings,  and  a  literal  translation 
(David  Stott).  The  book  met  with  an  imme- 
diate success,  partly  because  it  supplied  a  want, 
and  partly  from  the  attractive  form  in  which  it 
was  produced.  A  second  edition  was  called 
for  within  two  years  ;  and  this  very  summer  a 
third,  with  additions,  has  been  published  by 
Mr.  John  Lane.  The  author  spared  no  pains 
to  make  the  volume  worthy  of  its  subject. 
Merely  as  a  specimen  of  book-making,  it  has  few 
rivals.  The  Royal  Press  of  Berlin  lent  a  fount 
of  Greek  type,  which  had  never  before  been  used 
in  this  country.  Prof.  Blass,  of  Kiel,  gave  his 
assistance  in  determining  the  obscure  text  of 
the  fragments.  Mr.  John  Addington  Symonds 
contributed  special  metrical  versions  of  all  the 
longer  pieces.  Mr.  John  Cother  Webb  engraved 
for  frontispiece  the  head  of  Sappho  in  Mr.  Alma 


IN     MEMORIAM  221 

Tadema's  famous  picture,  the  original  of  which 
has  since  gone  to  America.  Of  Mr.  Wharton's 
own  work  we  must  be  content  to  praise  the 
memoir,  marked  by  good  sense  as  well  as 
erudition ;  and  the  bibliography,  which  includes 
the  latest  programs  of  Russian  universities. 
The  result  is  one  of  the  rare  books  that  give 
fresh  life  to  an  ancient  author,  and  beget  other 
good  books,  such,  in  this  case,  as  Michael  Field's 
Long  Ago.  It  appeals  alike  to  the  scholar, 
the  bibliophile,  and  the  general  public ;  and  by 
it  the  author's  name  will  be  preserved,  along 
with  that  of  the  immortal  poetess,  when  far 
more  notorious  writers  of  the  day  are  forgotten. 
But  Mr.  Wharton  was  by  no  means  a  man 
of  one  book.  Though  he  had  got  together  a 
choice  collection  of  English  literature,  his  real 
interest  lay  in  natural  history.  It  would  be 
difficult,  indeed,  to  say  to  which  of  its  branches 
he  was  most  devoted.  His  knowledge  of 
ornithology  was  based  upon  observation  as 
much  as  upon  books.  His  eye  and  ear  were 
both  highly  trained,  and  he  always  made  his 
learning  subservient  to  nature.  So,  again, 
with  regard  to  botany.  While  he  did  not 
despise  the  most  technical  details,  it  was  his 
delight  to  accompany  gatherings  of  autumn 
fungus-hunters,  and  to  point  out  what  was 
wholesome  and  what  poisonous.  He  was  one 


222  IN     MEMORIAM 

of  the  joint  compilers  of  the  official  List  of 
British  Birds  published  by  the  B.  O.  U.  (1883), 
his  special  task  being  to  supervise  and  elucidate 
the  Latin  nomenclature;  and  he  contributed  a 
chapter  on  the  local  flora  to  a  work  entitled 
Hampstead  Hill  (1889). 

So  much,  however,  summarises  only  what 
Harry  Wharton  did,  not  what  he  was.  His 
was  one  of  the  bounteous  natures  that  radiate 
happiness  wherever  they  go.  Men,  women, 
and  children  alike  brightened  in  his  genial 
presence.  He  led  a  blameless  and  a  beneficent 
life.  He  never  made  an  enemy  and  he  never 
lost  a  friend.  He  ought  to  have  been  a  con- 
temporary of  Charles  Lamb.  It  is  hard  to 
realise — especially  for  one  who  has  known  and 
loved  him  for  nearly  thirty  years — that  we  shall 
never  see  again  that  os  honestum,  never  hear 
again  that  ringing  laugh. 

'  God  be  with  his  soul !     A'  was  a  merry  man.' 

J.  S.  COTTON. 
1895. 


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at  the  Edinburgh  Univerity  Press 


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